Visit the Seaside Heights boardwalk on a windy day and you might catch a familiar scent wafting over the dunes, commingling with the smells of funnel cake and French fries.
Marijuana is nothing new to Jersey Shore towns, where the beaches and boardwalks set the backdrop for teens and college students cutting loose.
Even though it’s not new, some mayors and lifeguards say that since the Garden State legalized recreational cannabis, there has been a spike in complaints about the pungent aroma floating from the beaches.
“We get complaints from concerned parents and grandparents who say, ‘I don’t want my child to be in the midst of this,’” Seaside Heights Mayor Tony Vaz said. “What do you say to a parent? ‘We understand where you’re coming from. We’re doing the best we can.’”
After all, this is the Seaside Heights of “Jersey Shore” infamy, a summer party hotspot with a boardwalk where T-shirts saying “Smoke Weed Every Day” ($25), and coffee mugs declaring “High From The Jersey Shore” ($12.99) are for sale alongside seashell necklaces and boogie boards.
In this first summer since recreational cannabis sales became legal in New Jersey, several officials along the Shore have said marijuana use on the beach is up and so are complaints.
The conundrum: Smoking of any type is illegal there. Two years before New Jerseyans voted to legalize pot, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law in 2018 banning all smoking across the state’s public beaches and parks. Weed…
