Whether Gov. Phil Murphy makes good on his promise to have the state legislature legalize recreational marijuana, it won’t matter much in Secaucus. The mayor and Town Council adopted a zoning ordinance at their Sept. 11 meeting to ban anyone from growing, processing, distributing, or selling recreational marijuana in town.
Originally up for a final vote at the Aug. 29 council, meeting, the council was forced to delay the matter because the county’s planning board had not reviewed the ordinance in time.
The new legislation would not ban anyone from smoking recreational marijuana (if it becomes legal in New Jersey), nor would it impinge on medical marijuana, which the state legalized in 2010. The town wanted to comfort its more conservative base with the new mandate, Town Administrator Gary Jeffas acknowledged. Secaucus is already home to Harmony Dispensary, the first medical marijuana dispensary in Hudson County.