How Brick Voted On NJ's Marijuana Question

BRICK, NJ — In March 2019, the Brick Township Council approved an ordinance banning the sale of recreational marijuanain the township after a bitter battle among residents that played out on social media as well as at council meetings.

Much of that bitterness was fueled by a fight over a medical marijuana dispensary that was proposed for the former bank site on Adamston Road, next to the Veterans of Foreign Wars post, and came as the state legislature was weighing a plan to legalize recreational marijuana use by adults 21 and over.

The legislature ultimately decided to let voters weigh in on the matter, and on Tuesday, voters across New Jersey voted by a 2-to-1 margin to approve amending the New Jersey Constitution to legalize recreational marijuana use by adults 21 and older.

Unofficial tallies as of Thursday afternoon show 1,836,058 New Jersey voters — more than 66 percent — said yes to legalizing recreational marijuana use, with 912,387 voting no, according to the Associated Press. Read more: NJ Legalizes Recreational Marijuana, AP Says

But how did that play out in Ocean County and Brick? The results so far have been similar.

The Ocean County Board of Elections reports 158,953 yes votes cast countywide out of 268,470 responses to the question, or more than 59 percent. There have been 109,517 no votes tallied so far in Ocean County, according to those unofficial counts.

In Brick, 23,535 voters so far voted yes on the question, 64.5 percent of the mail-in ballots counted in Brick so far. There have been 12,953 no votes out of the 36,488 votes on the marijuana legalization question.

The Brick Township ordinance bans the retail sale, cultivation, manufacturing and testing of marijuana products for recreational use in the township. It would impose fines of up to $500 and a possible 90-day jail sentence for violations.

So Brick residents seeking to partake in marijuana use will have to obtain it in other towns.

The amendment legalizing recreational marijuana use by adults takes effect on Jan. 1, 2021. But state lawmakers and the Cannabis Regulatory Commission need to hammer out the finer points, such as how much marijuana people could legally possess and whether people will be allowed to grow cannabis at home.

Many experts estimate it would likely take at least a year and possibly longer before the first legal pot in New Jersey would be sold.

The approval of the question does not mean it's legal yet to use marijuana recreationally.

Here's what Attorney General Gurbir Grewal had to say on Wednesday:

"All of the state's criminal laws relating to marijuana continue to apply, until, among other things, the Legislature enacts a law creating that regulatory framework. It is important that residents accurately understand the current situation, so they do not inadvertently engage in criminal conduct relating to marijuana — conduct that may be legal in the future once the Legislature acts, but is not presently legal based on yesterday's vote. While my office will soon issue additional guidance for law enforcement and prosecutors to address this situation, we have reminded them of the broad discretion they already possess in handling low-level marijuana offenses."

Medical marijuana patients remain the only people who can legally smoke cannabis in New Jersey at this time. Read more: NJ Voters Legalize Marijuana; Can You Be Arrested For Smoking?

With reporting by Eric Kiefer

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