Township officials are preparing a beacon to lure New Jersey’s forthcoming recreational marijuana industry.
A resolution that gained town council approval Wednesday night announces the town’s willingness to play host to marijuana retailers, growers, distributors and processors once state legislators establish rules for the recreational market approved by voters in November. The early signal of intent is likely to be coupled with new zoning regulations to restrict marijuana businesses to certain areas of the 80-square-mile community.
Varieties of marijuana on display in plastic canisters at a dispensary in California, which decriminalized the drug this year.
“This reflects the changing political landscape that we’re in right now,” said Michael Chazukow, councilman elect. “It used to be very politically dangerous to advocate for cannabis. Now it’s dangerous not to.”
A board member for the New Jersey chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, Chazukow said the town Council’s welcoming stance toward marijuana would have been almost unthinkable just a few years ago. Still, he said that legalization fits with the community’s conservative values of personal freedom and was clearly embraced by the community during voting this fall.