Plenty of towns and cities across New Jersey have adopted their own ordinances blocking sales of recreational marijuana within their borders, even before voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing for a legal adult-use market.
None of those local bans actually matter, according to the current proposed state law that outlines how the marketplace will eventually run.
Under A21/S21, any ordinance enacted by a municipality prior to the effective date of the state law is null and void. A municipality has the right to prohibit marijuana-related operations but only after the state’s framework is fully known and approved.
“They will have a more informed decision, rather than what I believed, quite frankly, to be a knee-jerk reaction the last time,” said state Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, the bill sponsor and a longtime advocate for legalization.
The bill’s language was brought up as a concern during a Monday hearing by state Sen. Gerald Cardinale, R-Bergen, who wondered why…