As Weed Goes Legal, 2 Ocean County Towns Wait On State Approvals

SOUTH TOMS RIVER, NJ — In the summer of 2021, when many Ocean County towns were moving to ban all retail cannabis businesses within their borders, South Toms River officials quietly took a different path.

There were no raucous public hearings, no protests ... no real arguments or demands for action, one way or another.

"The Borough has not taken any action on cannabis," Joseph Kostecki, the borough administrator, said in July. "(It) continues to express acceptance of such within the Borough; all based on State laws at this point."

In Lakehurst, the approach was similar. No move to put a ban in place, but instead, measures to define where and how retail cannabis businesses would be allowed to operate within the borough borders.

The towns, two of the smallest in Ocean County, are the outliers in the county where towns banned recreational marijuana businesses even though Ocean County residents overall supported legalization for adult recreational use.

In November 2020, 60.06 percent of Ocean County voters said yes to Question 1 — "Do you approve amending the Constitution to legalize a controlled form of marijuana called “cannabis”? Only adults at least 21 years of age could use cannabis. The State commission created to oversee the State’s medical cannabis program would also oversee the new, personal use cannabis market. Cannabis products would be subject to the State sales tax. If authorized by the Legislature, a municipality may pass a local ordinance to charge a local tax on cannabis products."

In South Toms River, the vote was nearly 76 percent in favor of it, and in Lakehurst, the vote was 72.4 percent in favor.

In towns where bans were passed, the argument made by some officials was that while voters said yes to legalization, that didn't necessarily mean they wanted it sold in their town. Others opposed it on their belief that marijuana usage is a path to addiction.

In Lacey Township, officials put the matter to voters, and they rejected retail sale and cultivation of marijuana in the township by a 600-vote margin in November 2021.

South Toms River officials have done the opposite. In February, borough officials held an open house for potential cannabis business applicants where they laid out the borough's process and information on where the businesses would be permitted to operate in town.

Borough administrator Joseph Kostecki said the discussions that night were mostly of a cooperative nature.

"There's always going to be a little bit of negative," he said at the time, "but we are making this go positive."

The borough accepted applications and had them in hand in March 15 when the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission began accepting applications for retail licenses, but the first wave of conditional licenses, announced March 24, was only for growers and manufacturers who had applied in December.

Medical marijuana dispensaries received the first retail sales license approvals on April 11, but it's unclear when New Jersey will expand the list.

South Toms River approved three businesses — The Social Leaf, Altitude Cannabis, and Shore Cannabis — and now the borough and those businesses are in a holding pattern until the state moves on their applications.

In Lakehurst, officials and potential businesses are in a holding pattern as well. The borough is planning for one license for manufacturing, cultivation or distribution, and two retail license, with one downtown and one in the Route 70 corridor, Borough Clerk Maryanne Capasso said.

Capasso said there have been about 15 applicants who have approached the borough about the possibilities for the future.

"People who have come here who are interested, we're planning to meet with each applicant," she said. "We're waiting to hear from the state to move forward."

In the meantime, Ocean County adults who want to partake of recreational marijuana will continue to head out of the county for those purchases, as they did on Thursday when retail sales went live for the first time.

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