One challenge is the growing number of municipalities across the state that have enacted bans on the budding industry. According to NJ.com, dozens of cities and towns have preemptively blocked the sale of recreational cannabis within their borders. South Jersey municipalities that have passed bans include Bridgeton in Cumberland County, Lumberton in Burlington County, Manning Township and Upper Pittsgrove in Salem County, and Pleasantville and Somers Point in Atlantic County.
“A municipal ban doesn’t necessarily ban cannabis from that municipality,” Brown said, “it just bans our ability to regulate an industry there.”
Brown urged municipalities to share feedback and to read the state’s recreational marijuana regulations, which will now be worked out by the commission, before deciding to ban the drug.