TRENTON—A plan for 108 new medical marijuana businesses statewide—with applications available July 1 and due by Aug. 15—also includes a 2% local tax on medical cannabis sales as an enticement for municipalities to help cover any local costs and host a facility.
As the state’s rapidly growing medical marijuana program approaches 50,000 patients statewide, the New Jersey Department of Health announced requests for 108 new medical marijuana facilities beginning July 1, opening the possibility for a new stream of local tax revenue for New Jersey towns who see an opportunity in allowing a medical cannabis facility.
Once the applications for new medical cannabis facilities are available online from the New Jersey Department of Health, the state plans to host a webinar July 16 for potential applicants, officials said.
However, a New Jersey State League of Municipalities representative said depending on final negotiations—and input from the governor’s office—that 108 number for new medical cannabis facilities may or may not be reduced.
Apparently, Gov. Phil Murphy favors more medical marijuana facilities statewide to handle increasing demand from an ever-growing number of patients.
Michael Cerra, league assistant executive director, said the new medical cannabis facilities will be evaluated based on specific conditions to determine where the best locations are for patient access.
He said that many towns were previously interested in hosting a medical cannabis dispensary and are probably moreso now with an up to 2% local tax on medical cannabis sales possible. There is no local tax on growing or manufacturing or wholesaling operations, he said.
In a message to towns, Cerra said applications for any medical cannabis facility “must consider proposed location including zoning approvals, provided there is a letter or affidavit from appropriate municipal officials and there is proof of local support, such as a resolution of the governing body.”
He also notes that a medical cannabis dispensary can have a consumption area “only provided there is an endorsement from the municipality and permits municipality by ordinance to authorize the operations of local endorsed medical cannabis consumption areas.”
One part of the new bill to expand the medical marijuana program also creates a statewide cannabis regulatory commission, he said.
“People are more familiar with the medical marijuana program, as we’ve had it for a decade, and its potential application for more towns to get involved now is there,” Cerra said, adding that more municipalities favor medical marijuana than recreational marijuana, apparent in the number of towns passing resolutions or ordinances to prohibit recreational cannabis sales.
Due to an inability to pass adult-use legislation, Democratic Senate President Steven Sweeney postponed legislative action on legalizing recreational use last month in favor of a public ballot question in 2020.
A bill pending in both legislative chambers to expand the medical marijuana program puts the new number of facilities at 23. Published reports indicate that the state health department expansion to 108 new medical cannabis licenses was Murphy’s choice.
The state health department has jurisdiction over the program now and plans to open up applications on July 1.
Little interest here
While Cerra said more towns may wish to host a medical marijuana facility, that was not the case when Pascack Press/Northern Valley Press surveyed a cross-section of mayors.
Most mayors opposed any local medical marijuana dispensary despite a chance to tax medical sales.
That said, two mayors told us the possibility for medical marijuana—used for research as well as a further look into opportunities for a grower, processor, or seller—was unlikely but worth consideration.
Hillsdale Mayor John Ruocco said he could not see a time when a medical marijuana facility would be allowed in town.
“It’s an interesting social issue and I’m taking a cautious approach,” he said.
Montvale Mayor Michael Ghassali, a recently declared congressional candidate for District 5, said current ordinances approved in Montvale only permit limited research at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSK-Bergen) complex.
He said right now no medical marijuana research is occurring but that may happen in the future.
“Dispensaries are not allowed here and won’t be,” Ghassali said. He suggested that the ordinance does not allow medical marijuana facilities “out of an abundance of caution” and that such a facility might lead to a possibility of a recreational marijuana facility in the future.
That will not happen, Ghassali said. He added that Montvale has no place for such a dispensary.
Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes said he has met with business people interested in exploring possibilities, such as renting space in a city industrial area, to look at whether a certain type of medical marijuana facility could be something city officials would consider.
Wildes said the question of possibly allowing such a facility needed much further exploration, from impacts on city quality of life and police-related public safety matters.
He said the federal laws categorizing cannabis as an illegal drug also impact the state’s medical cannabis industry.
“There’s lots of shades of grey” when considering a medical marijuana business locally, he said.
He said he might raise the issue with City Council and meet with community leaders on the issue.
He noted legal concerns and local “sensitivities” might preclude such a medical facility in Englewood.
Tenafly Mayor Peter Rustin said the council did not address marijuana legalization by resolution or ordinance. He said he saw no place for a medical marijuana facility in Tenafly.
“I would hope not,” he added.
Only six dispensaries now
The state health department oversees six medical cannabis dispensaries statewide. Six more were approved for operation in 2018 but are yet to open.
All 12 of those approved facilities are “vertically integrated” operations: each is responsible for growing, processing and retail sales for medical cannabis products.
The 108 facilities proposed do not need to be vertically integrated; instead, the state health department will seek applications for 24 medical marijuana cultivators, 30 medical marijuana manufacturers, and 54 medical marijuana dispensaries statewide.
This includes 38 in North Jersey, 38 in Central Jersey, and 32 in South Jersey, state health officials said.
In late March, New Jersey’s medical marijuana program expanded its list of conditions treated to include anxiety, migraine, Tourette’s syndrome, chronic pain related to rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, fibromyalgia and opioid use disorder, pancreatitis, irritable bowel syndrome, and bowel dysfunction.
Conditions previously covered included amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, terminal cancer, muscular dystrophy, inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn’s, any terminal illness with less than 12 months life expectancy, seizure disorders including epilepsy, intractable skeletal muscular spasticity, post-traumatic stress disorder, glaucoma, severe and chronic pain, severe nausea, vomiting, and wasting syndrome.