Executing the third veto of his administration, Westwood Mayor John Birkner Jr. on Sept. 22 negated a nearly unanimous council vote banning both recreational and medical marijuana in the borough, saying the measure was rushed and otherwise negligent.
Reaction, including from Police Chief Michael Pontillo, was sharp.
Birkner filed notice with the borough on Sept. 22, three days after he told Pascack Press he was very likely to do so and four days after the council voted, 5-1, to ban “any establishment involved in the cultivation, distribution, and/or sale of marijuana, either recreational or medicinal” in in all districts, including the hospital.
Birkner is calling for a new ordinance to be introduced that removes the prohibition of medicinal use in accordance with New Jersey’s 2010 Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act.