With recreational marijuana legalization potentially coming soon to New Jersey, Lacey officials discussed the future of dispensaries in town. The Township Committee introduced two ordinances Thursday: one to allow a medical marijuana dispensary in the business park and another prohibiting recreational dispensaries in the township.
New Jersey voters will decide in the November election whether to legalize recreational marijuana in the Garden State. If it passes, state legislature would need to decide on the details and regulations.
“Legalization is about racial justice,” said Amol Sinha, executive director of the ACLU in New Jersey.
Despite growing public support for the legalized use of recreational marijuana, arrests in New Jersey have increased in recent years, according to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In 2017, the state reportedly had more arrests of Blacks users of the plant, and at higher rates, than almost every other state.
Armed with a guitar and a life-sized bong costume, two marijuana legalization activists debuted a song about the more than 50 New Jersey towns that have pre-emptive banned the sale of cannabis should it become legal.
Edward “Lefty” Grimes and a fellow activist chose Wednesday night’s Seaside Heights borough council meeting to introduce their toe-tapper, which was taken in stride by officials and residents who smiled as the list of towns were rattled off in the duo’s cleverly-arranged lyrics.
The Brick Township Council has unanimously voted to ban recreational marijuana in the town.
The council voted just before midnight Tuesday night after town residents on both sides of the issue had a chance to voice their opinion. In the end, the council voted to ban the sale, cultivation, manufacturing and testing of marijuana.
Marijuana has a complicated relationship with the town. The owner of land on Adamston Road where the old Ocean First Bank used to be said that she would give up plans to build a medical marijuana dispensary after opposition from neighbors.
Should New Jersey legislators pass a recreational marijuana bill under Gov. Phil Murphy's legalization plan, new businesses in the cannabis industry will not be able to open shop in Brick.
Shortly after the governor and legislators announced a deal to legalize recreational marijuana use, the Brick Township Council voted unanimously to prohibit sales, manufacturing, cultivation and testing of recreational cannabis throughout the municipality.
In a letter to the zoning board that was reported by Ocean County Scanner News, attorney Dennis Galvin said Jersey Shore Therapeutic Health Care in Brick was withdrawing its application for zoning variances to potentially operate a medical marijuana facility at 385 Adamston Road. The site was a bank for many years, lastly under the Ocean First banner.
The Brick Township Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing March 12 on an ordinance to ban the retail sale of recreational marijuana in the township.
The ordinance, introduced Tuesday night with five yes votes and one abstention, was met with some comments in favor of it and some opposed, as expected.
A proposal to ban the sale of recreational marijuana drew dozens of attendees to a Township Council meeting on Tuesday, where they argued for more than an hour over the potential merits and possible pitfalls of legal cannabis shops and facilities in the township.
The ordinance is restricted only to recreational sales and cultivation, and its effects – if any – on a proposed medical dispensary and grow house off Adamston Road are unknown. The controversial medical marijuana facility has drawn outrage from neighboring residents and, in recent weeks, has become a personal battle between the residents and owners of the proposed facility – devolving to threats of litigation and police reports filed for harassment.
The Township Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on an ordinance that would ban the sale, cultivation and manufacturing of marijuana for recreational use.
Mayor John G. Ducey confirmed that the Township Council would vote on the ordinance at its regular meeting, which will begin at 7 p.m. in town hall at 401 Chambers Bridge Road.