Town Marijuana Ban

Democrat candidate for mayor Ben Giovine said if he is elected mayor of Toms River in November, he will push to overturn a 2021 ban on the sale of legal marijuana in Toms River. The Toms River Township Council voted against allowing weed businesses to operate within the town.

Giovine said the township would benefit from the sale of legal marijuana in the community, pumping the township coffers with more money.

Still, as countless towns across the state debate whether to allow dispensaries (and in many cases deciding that the answer is no), Stockton’s poll is an indication that New Jerseyans overall remain supportive of legal weed.

The poll additionally asked about cannabis consumption lounges; respondents were narrowly in favor (49%-45%) of allowing such lounges in their towns, and were similarly split (48%-45%) on lounges and cannabis-themed attractions being allowed in tourist towns.

Wayne Township residents who enjoy cannabis may soon have a shorter trip for legally purchasing the substance. State regulators approved a retailer license for a Haledon-based business, paving the way for a dispensary in the borough.

Wayne's Township Council voted in April 2021 to ban recreational-weed businesses from operating within the township. The closest dispensary offering medicinal or recreational cannabis is RISE, a Paterson business that offers both.

The guy in the purple bong suit brought along a guitar and entertained – if that’s the right term – the council with song.

Then there was a masked man in a wheelchair.

That was Edward “Lefty” Grimes, the CEO of Sativa Cross, a non-profit that advocates for cannabis patients. And just for the record, the guitarist gave his name as Bongholeo.

Legalized marijuana continues to be eventful for local governing bodies.

Mary Oakes, an Oceanport resident who came to Madison to tell the story of her husband, a medical cannabis user, echoed that sentiment. Oakes claims that her husband was diagnosed with stage four cancer in 2016.

"He was given two months to live. My husband lived four years and ten months because of the use of medical cannabis. It kept him off of every kind of opioid they wanted to shove down him to keep him pain free," Oakes said.

One New Jersey town is looking to go a step further. In Madison, a small town in Morris County which voted two-thirds in favor of legalizing marijuana, the town council is on the cusp of rejecting a medical dispensary for the town. The council overwhelmingly approved an ordinance allowing medical marijuana sales, but is now trying to repeal that ordinance and pass new ones ensuring no other cannabis dispensary can open.

During Monday nights council meeting, the council introduced three ordinances regarding cannabis.

One month after rejecting a medical marijuana dispensary's application to open on Main Street, the Borough Council is rescinding its laws allowing the dispensaries altogether.

The council voted unanimously Monday to introduce three ordinances undoing the actions it took last May to allow medical marijuana dispensaries to open in the town's Community Commercial zones and gateway zone at the east end of Main Street.

Marijuana may be legal in New Jersey, but its stigma remains.

To many – far more than simple logic would suggest – pot smoking is the province of degenerates and all-around lowlifes.

This truth runs counter to polls that say about half of all Americans have used the drug at least once, not to mention some hard facts – namely that voters strongly supported legalizing recreational marijuana in 2020.

But apparently, polls are polls and elections are elections.

Hundreds of businesses in New Jersey are one step closer to fully operating in the cannabis industry. Last month, the Cannabis Regulatory Commission approved nearly 300 additional conditional licenses, bringing the total to date to about 800. The CRC also approved the first 18 annual licenses.