That meeting could become moot, however: the state's decision on which companies will receive the six licenses to operate dispensaries is expected to come down Nov. 1. Jersey Shore Therapeutic Health Care is one of 45 applicants for two available licenses in Central Jersey, said Anne Davis, one of the principals of the company.
“We chose this location after a long, long search,” said Anne Davis, a Brick attorney and principal of Jersey Shore Therapeutic Health Care. “We chose this location because it’s a bank. Because it had a vault. Because it has cameras throughout the building and handicapped access — everything we’d want for our patient services center.”
Both Davis and co-owner Karen Medlin, of Marlboro, are intimately familiar with the New Jersey medical marijuana program. Davis is a registered patient, using the drug to treat symptoms of multiple sclerosis.
Jersey Shore Therapeutic Health Care is seeking to convert the former OceanFirst Bank into a dispensary and erect a 40,000-square-foot steel building to be used as a grow facility for the medical marijuana it would dispense.
The application is part of the company's efforts to get a license to operate a dispensary under New Jersey's medical marijuana program. There are currently six dispensaries operating in New Jersey; in July Gov. Phil Murphy said the state would offer six more licenses to expand access for medical marijuana patients.
The fate of the first medical marijuana dispensary at the Jersey Shore is up in the air until November.
Six new New Jersey medical marijuana dispensaries will receive state licenses, doubling the number of existing locations. Mike Davis
The zoning board on Wednesday declined to take a vote on the plan by Jersey Shore Therapeutic Health Care to convert the former OceanFirst Bank on Adamston Road into a dispensary, scheduling another hearing for Nov. 19.
Council members let their views on a state measure that would legalize marijuana for recreational purposes be known during their last meeting of September.
Councilman Scott Martin spoke out strongly against the proposed legislation, citing statistics, and saying, “I support the legalization of marijuana for medical use, but as a councilman I am deeply troubled by the effect legalizing recreational marijuana will have on today’s youth.”
The owners of Jersey Shore Therapeutic Health Care have proposed building a medical marijuana dispensary and cultivation facility at the Adamston Road property.
Under the plans, the bank building would be converted into the "patient services center," the actual medical marijuana dispensary where patients could purchase the drug.
The group has also proposed building a new 48,000-square-foot cultivation center, where cannabis could grow.
For medical marijuana patients in Ocean County, the proposal to open a dispensary in Brick Township is seen as a God-send: a facility that won't require them to drive three hours roundtrip to get the medication that relieves their conditions.
For neighbors of the proposed Adamston Road site for Jersey Shore Therapeutic Health Care, it is a nightmare in the making, a lure for dangerous violent criminals.
Many New Jersey cities and towns are not waiting for the state to legalize recreational cannabis before enacting ordinances to regulate it.
In December, Point Pleasant Beach voted to ban sales of both medicinal and recreational marijuana. The Point Pleasant Beach cannabis ordinance prohibits businesses from selling medicinal or recreational marijuana within a quarter-mile of schools, churches, residential areas and marine commercial and general commercial districts. Doing so effectively bans all sales within town limits.
Marijuana legalization has been one of the hottest issues in New Jersey since Phil Murphy took over in Trenton this year. At first he said he'd get it done in 100 days. Last week he walked that back, saying he wanted legalization by the end of the year.
At the Shore, officials in Asbury Park and Atlantic City say they support recreational sales, while the leaders in Point Pleasant Beach, Wildwood, Seaside Heights, Lavallette, and Berkeley Township do not. Toms River introduced a resolution to prohibit sales but tabled the matter.