The West Orange Township Council tabled an ordinance that would update the zoning provisions in town to allow the legal operation of medical marijuana dispensaries at its Jan. 7 meeting, wanting more information from attorney Mark Moon and more time to work with township officials on the ordinance.
Gov. Phil Murphy signed the Jake Honig Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Act in July, thereby increasing the amount of marijuana that patients with a medical card can purchase, removing limits for terminally ill patients and legalizing edible forms of the drug. The act is named after Jake Honig, a 7-year-old Howell resident who died of brain cancer and who used medical marijuana near the end of his life for pain relief.
Medical marijuana was legalized in New Jersey in 2010 by then Gov. Jon Corzine, and the Jake Honig Act expands the program to include more diseases that qualify patients for a medical card. Moon, a member of the township’s legal department, explained at a public forum on the topic in September that, because more medical marijuana dispensaries will now be allowed to open, West Orange has the opportunity to change its zoning laws to allow for them.