I’ll start with a question - Would you rather invest in a growing business with a high return, or a dying business with little to no return?
I would imagine we’re all going to choose the former over the latter, but unfortunately, our Clifton City Council does not agree.
Your feelings on the subject aside, it’s safe to say that cannabis is a growing business in the state of New Jersey since its opening of recreational use on April 21, 2022. Between April 21 and June 30, 2022, the state of New Jersey collected $4.6 million dollars in tax revenue from cannabis sales. Let’s say that Clifton took 1% of that, we would have $46,000 in tax revenue in only 10 weeks’ time. Our last council voted down the opportunity of any cannabis business opening in Clifton without having read the state regulations.
Our mayor, then councilman, said at the council meeting on Tuesday, September 8, 2021, “My thought on this is that 6 of us voted against all 6 [licenses]. Unless someone from here, and we can ask them all, unless you can get 3 other people to agree with you, there’s no discussion. So we could go down the line, and if everyone says no, we’re still of the same frame that we don’t want to entertain any of them, then there’s no discussion. Why would we discuss it?”
This comes after 61.6% of Clifton voted to legalize cannabis in the state of New Jersey. (Sounds like the “will of the people” to me for anyone who was following the vote for mayor)