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NEW JERSEY (FOX 5 NY) - Former New Jersey Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno says it would be smarter for New Jersey to legalize prostitution than recreational marijuana.
The Republican made the comments on Fox 5's Chasing News this week. She says a push by the current administration to legalize marijuana is simply an effort to raise money and will put children in danger.
"If the reason we are passing this recreational marijuana bill is to close a budget gap and, clearly, there is a budget gap otherwise we wouldn't have a tax amnesty in New Jersey right now, let's go someplace else that is not going to hurt our children," Guadagno says.
She says a better solution is to legalize and tax prostitution.
"If we legalize prostitution, it's between two consenting adults. We could help the women, we could cut out that middle man, and we will generate income and we won't lose an entire generation of our children," Guadagno says.
She says advocates claiming that passing recreational marijuana is a social justice issue because minorities are disproportionately arrested, convicted and jailed for marijuana are missing the point of the current legislation in New Jersey.
"It's all about the money. The social justice can be fixed by simply changing our criminal laws. We can fix that," Guadagno says.
Guadagno was Lt. Gov. during the Christie administration. She ran for governor in 2017 but lost to current governor Phil Murphy.