Should marijuana be legalized in New Jersey, growers and sellers would not be able to do business in Barnegat Township. An ordinance adopted at the July 2 township committee meeting will forbid the “sale, manufacture and farming and marijuana paraphernalia” in the municipality.
Deputy Mayor Alfonso Cirulli acknowledged the ordinance could eventually be declared moot.
“Eventually, the state may not allow us to do this,” he said. “Whatever we do will be superseded by anything that the state does.”
Currently, marijuana use is criminalized for recreational use in New Jersey, but permitted for medical use. Gov. Phil Murphy had vowed to legalize recreational marijuana within the first 100 days of his administration, but the bill has yet to come up for a vote in the Assembly and Senate.