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New Jersey stands at a crossroads on a defining civil rights struggle of our time: . Each year, New Jersey police have set new records for marijuana possession arrests, making the largest number ever in 2015: . Enforcement of marijuana prohibition exacerbates deep racial disparities in our criminal justice system and costs taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

All of this for a substance that the majority of and 鈥� 鈥� believe should be legal.

New Jersey has only one real option: to legalize marijuana. But legalization alone is not enough. We need policies that advance racial justice to repair the damage wrought by discriminatory enforcement of drug laws.

With a new gubernatorial administration and state legislative session in 2018, legalization of marijuana possession for adults is within our sights. But we have to make sure it鈥檚 done the right way.

In New Jersey, Black individuals are , despite similar usage rates for both. some counties and municipalities, that ratio climbs exponentially: Black New Jerseyans are arrested at rates 5.5 times higher for marijuana possession in Ocean County and 31.8 times higher in Point Pleasant Beach.

To a degree, the summer influx of visitors to the Jersey shore explains some of the enormity of disparities in shore towns, where populations can quadruple and dwarf the smaller year-round population, which has different demographics from the vacationers. But these alarming disparities in beach towns are real, and they鈥檙e especially alarming given New Jersey鈥檚 , history of .

But the racial disparities go beyond marijuana arrest rates. New Jersey鈥檚 racial disparity in prisons is the worst in the nation 鈥� we . In New Jersey, if you鈥檙e white, the odds are one in 1,004 that you鈥檙e incarcerated. If you鈥檙e Latino, it鈥檚 one in 472. .

Marijuana arrests have played a significant role in creating the unjust racial imbalances in our prisons and jails. Ending arrests for marijuana possession altogether, in a way that advances racial justice, would be a crucial step in confronting the unfairness that plagues our criminal justice system. It would also increase public safety by letting law enforcement focus on more serious crimes rather than marijuana possession 鈥� and .

A simple marijuana possession arrest . Individuals face the prospect of jail time, hefty fines and fees, loss of housing, firing, ineligibility for financial aid, suspension of a driver鈥檚 license, and immigration consequences, to name a few.

Gov.-elect Phil Murphy ran on a as a social and racial justice priority. If Gov. Murphy follows the standard candidate Murphy set for himself 鈥� to approach legalization as an issue of racial and social justice 鈥� any legalization bill he considers signing would have to include the following elements:

Automatic expungements. Currently, hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans face the collateral consequences of a marijuana possession conviction. People who bear the burden of a conviction for an offense that鈥檚 no longer considered a crime need an efficient, fair mechanism to clear their names and fully participate in civic life. Otherwise, the onerous expungement process for people who already face enormous barriers.

Fair regulations for the marijuana marketplace. It鈥檚 not enough to simply undo laws that have targeted communities of color. We need opportunities for all people to participate in the new cannabis market, not just the privileged few. First, people with convictions on their records should not be barred wholesale from entering the market. Second, we can鈥檛 have excessive licensing fees that stop all but the wealthiest individuals from entering the cannabis economy. And there should be a cap on the number of licenses that can be bought by corporate interests. Otherwise large companies the state marketplace and leave the people of New Jersey by the wayside.

Community reinvestment. The hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue legal cannabis could generate should serve to help the New Jersey communities that have been ravaged by the war on marijuana and the war on drugs more broadly. That includes investing in community-based social services 鈥� such as counseling, drug treatment, reentry, and education 鈥� in the cities and towns that need it the most.

Home-grow provision. People should be able to grow marijuana in limited amounts for their personal use, especially given the hurdles to access for people with limited mobility or low incomes. For those who use marijuana for treatment, it allows them to grow the strains they need.

Nationally, eight states and the District of Columbia , all through ballot initiatives. The schemes in these states have contributed to an economic boon, but New Jersey can go even further.

At a time when President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions are rolling back and undermining 鈥� with Sessions鈥� actually 鈥� New Jersey has the opportunity to lead the nation by being the first state to pass marijuana legalization through legislation.

While a ballot initiative would embed legalization in the state constitution, it would do so only broadly 鈥� the details at the heart of legalization would be left to figure out later. The legislative process gives New Jerseyans a much better shot at a plan that doesn鈥檛 just make marijuana legal, but upholds the principles of racial and social justice in its execution.

The Garden State has the chance to show the country what it means to have a comprehensive racial justice approach to legalize marijuana, and it鈥檚 up to us to make our officials seize it.

Amol Sinha is the executive director of the ACLU of New Jersey and a member of Gov.-elect Murphy鈥檚 Law and Justice transition team.