Should Cannabis Dispensaries Be 200 Feet From Schools? Hoboken Won't Vote On New Law

HOBOKEN, NJ — A proposal to allow cannabis dispensaries to be up to 200 feet from schools has been pulled from the City Council agenda for Wednesday, Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher said.

The proposal would have changed the existing rule saying dispensaries cannot be within 600 feet of a school.

Fisher said in her newsletter on Wednesday afternoon that after she and Councilwoman Jennifer Giattino proposed an ordinance to oppose the change to 200 feet, Councilwoman Joe Quintero called her to say he was pulling the 200-foot proposal, in the spirit of working together.

"Councilman Quintero called me a short time ago, minutes before I was going to send my newsletter with a call to action opposing his ordinance…perfect timing!" Fisher wrote in her newsletter on Wednesday afternoon. "We agreed to pull both pieces of legislation from the agenda. We also agreed to together in the near future to review the landscape and the map to ensure that our laws support a responsible, social equity driven cannabis industry in Hoboken that has necessary enforcement mechanisms ... I believe the feedback the City Council and the mayor [were] getting from residents in opposition to changing this law helped. Thank you to CM Quintero for reaching out on this."

You can still watch the council meeting using links at the end of this story.

Prior reporting on the proposed ordinance is below.

Prior Reporting On The Proposal

With more than a dozen schools in mile-square Hoboken, some residents believe a law forcing cannabis dispensaries to be at least 600 feet from a school is too restrictive.

The city passed a law in 2022 limiting cannabis dispensaries to six, and several of them have already gotten approval. Still, only one dispensary has opened in Hoboken for recreational and medical use, near the train station. (Read about The Station Dispensary here).

The 600-foot rule was invoked by those opposing a micro-dispensary that was poised to open on Washington Street last year, called Blue Violets. That dispensary still hasn't opened, but recently posted on social media that they hope to open soon.

Council members Phil Cohen and Joe Quintero are sponsoring a proposal to allow dispensaries to open as close as 200 feet from a school, which would remove some legal hurdles to dispensaries like Blue Violets.

The proposal notes that the city wants to regulate dispensaries more like the state regulates alcohol-serving establishments (which are also prominent in Hoboken).

It says, "[T]he Hoboken City Council recognizes it is the intent of the NJ in the CREAMM Act to 'adopt a new approach to our marijuana policies by controlling and legalizing a form a marijuana, to be referred to as cannabis, in a similar fashion to the regulations of alcohol for adults”...

The group Hoboken for Responsible Cannabis has argued that Blue Violets is 250 feet from two schools.

On Wednesday morning, they said, "This is concerning and raises questions about the city’s commitment to prioritizing the health and safety of Hoboken children. The proposed amendment would (1) reduce the allowable proximity to schools from 600 to 200 feet; (2) change the measurement of distance from point to point to 'normal' walking distance; and (3) allow dispensaries to open on the same block as a school. No state that has legalized marijuana has a school proximity law that is as low as 200 feet..."

See the full ordinance here.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at Hoboken City Hall, but you can also watch on Facebook and YouTube. Click to watch on the city's Facebook page here, or watch on YouTube here.

See what else is on the council agenda here.