New Jersey voters this fall get to decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana use among adults 21 and older, while a number of communities have moved preemptively to block marijuana sales.
As of October, there were nearly 70 local ordinances banning either all marijuana sales and growth or recreational forms of the drug.
Lacey in Ocean County is among the most recent to act with an ordinance amended this fall.
The five-member Ocean County Freeholder Board adopted a resolution at its Sept. 16 meeting, "Opposing a constitutional amendment legalizing recreational cannabis use and sales and urging voters to vote 'No' on the ballot question."
The same board voiced opposition to legalizing marijuana in 2018, which also was when the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders and the Warren County Freeholder Board each passed a resolution against recreational use, too.
The Essex County Freeholder Board passed a resolution on Sept. 23 supporting proposed legislation to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, among criminal and social justice reform on certain offense. “Let me be clear, this bill will NOT make marijuana legal,” Freeholder Rufus Johnson said in a written statement on the resolution.