Brick Marijuana Ban Would Be 'Null And Void' Under State Bill

BRICK, NJ — A little over a week ago, the Brick Township Council voted to ban the retail sale of recreational marijuana in the township, in what was thought would be the end of a heated, emotional process.

The bill pending in the state Legislature to make adult recreational marijuana use legal may make that five-hour meeting and unanimous vote by the council meaningless.

Senate Bill 2703 (and its companion, Assembly Bill 4497), the bills that would legalize recreational marijuana includes a provision that would make "null and void" any ordinances that have been passed in towns across the state to ban the sales of either or both.

"... any ordinance enacted by a local governmental entity prior to the effective date of this section addressing the issue of prohibiting one or more types of cannabis-related activities within the jurisdiction of the local governmental entity is null and void," the bill says.

Any municipality that wants to ban sales, facilities, growing operations or manufacture of marijuana products — for either adult recreational use or for medicinal purposes — would have 180 days following the enactment of the pending bill to legalize recreational marijuana use by adults to enact an ordinance banning the facilities, if they still sought to do that. Brick is one of 50 towns that have banned retail sales ahead of the proposed marijuana legalization.

If the current legislation is passed and signed into law, marijuana use for adults 21 and older becomes legal throughout the state, and municipalities who wish to ban it will have to "opt out."

A commission will be established by the state to establish regulations concerning growth, sale, taxation and other aspects of the law. Once those regulations are passed and made public, towns will then have 180 days to decide what actions they want to take.

For the towns that have bans already in place, they will be forced to adopt them again — which comes with expense of the legal advertisements, the public hearings and the conflicts that have marked the debates in many towns. More than 50 towns across the state have preemptively passed bans since Gov. Phil Murphy was elected, after he campaigned on legalizing recreational marijuana.

Legislative committees in both the New Jersey Senate and the Assembly approved a bill that would legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older in the state this week. The bill now heads to the full Senate and Assembly, which would each need to approve it before the bill could land on Gov. Phil Murphy's desk for his signature. Read more: NJ Recreational Pot Bill Approved By Committees; Final Vote Soon

The information that the proposed legislation includes voiding the already passed ordinances was highlighted at a forum in South Jersey Wednesday night in Camden County to answer residents' questions about the potential impacts of legalization.

William J. Caruso of Archer Law spoke at the forum organized by the Camden County Mayors' Association and provided an overview of the legislation and answered questions. Read more: Prohibition, Safety Discussed At Marijuana Legalization Forum

The passage of the Brick Township ordinance came amid an ongoing controversy over a proposal for a medical marijuana dispensary on Adamston Road.

The proposal by Jersey Shore Therapeutic Health Care to turn the former Ocean First bank building into the dispensary and build a 48,000-square-foot secured grow facility led to an escalating conflict between residents who opposed the facility and medical marijuana patients, both from the township and from elsewhere, who hoped to see a dispensary closer to their homes. Jersey Shore Therapeutic Health Care's then-attorney John Paul Doyle canceled the applicant's appearance at a special Brick Township Board of Adjustment hearing in January just hours before the meeting, but in early March announced it would be pulling the variance application and instead going before the planning board for approval of a grow operation on the site, which is zoned rural residential with agriculture as a permitted use.

Brick residents cheered the passage of the ban of the recreational sale, cultivation and manufacture ban the following week, thinking that was the final say on the matter.

Read more: 16 Things To Know About NJ Legal Marijuana Bill Before It's Law

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