If you want to legally purchase marijuana in New Jersey, you’ll have to do so outside of Westfield if a measure the Town Council is anticipated to vote on Tuesday gains final approval.
The chairpersons of a 17-member commission charged with issuing a recommendation to the council on the sales of and other commercial activities pertaining to marijuana in the town on Tuesday issued a statement promised on the decision for the proposed ban — a choice they noted the town can later reverse.
The Westfield Town Council voted Tuesday night to introduce an ordinance "opting out" — for now —of allowing cannabis shops in town.
What partly drove the decision is that the council can change its mind at any time, members noted before the vote. Under current state legislation, a municipality that votes to allow the shops must do so for at least five years — but a town that votes no can make a new decision later.
With marijuana legalized last year for recreational use in New Jersey, all towns were told they must vote to opt in or opt out by this summer.
Some also equate the recent legalization of marijuana to alcohol, which has been legal in New Jersey and the United States since the repeal of Prohibition. While only 30 of NJ’s 566 municipalities prohibit the sale of alcohol, at least 70 municipalities took action prior to legalization to prohibit marijuana sales in their towns. Newly-enacted legalization provides local governments with an opt-out clause specifically for that purpose.