BY JOHN SNYDER
OF PASCACK PRESS
WESTWOOD, N.J.—The Borough Council overturned Mayor John Birkner Jr.’s veto of their Sept. 18 ban on medical and recreational marijuana, but not before residents had their say.
Several residents turned out to the governing body’s Oct. 2 work session to rake Birkner for his veto, which he carried out Sept. 22, three days after he told Pascack Press he was very likely to do so and four days after the council voted, 5-1, to ban “any establishment involved in the cultivation, distribution, and/or sale of marijuana, either recreational or medicinal” in in all districts, including the hospital.
One resident called on the mayor to resign, saying he was putting political aspirations ahead of children’s safety—all of which Birkner vigorously denied.
In his filing to veto the ordinance, Birkner told officials the measure as introduced Aug. 21 by member Alyssa Dawson following groundwork laid by Police Chief Michael Pontillo in the reading of a four-page position paper against legalization, was rushed and otherwise negligent.
He said the move was a partisan campaign stunt that blindsided the administration, and called for a new ordinance that removes the prohibition of medicinal use in accordance with New Jersey’s 2010 Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act.
It was Dawson’s contention that it is best to have a blanket ban on the books before the state legalizes recreational marijuana, which it appears poised to do.
She and other critics of legalization have said it appears that the bill will allow nonprofit dispensaries later to sell cannabis products to adults without a referral, what Pontillo called an all-or-nothing approach to marijuana in New Jersey.
Gov. Phil Murphy said annual marijuana tax revenues could run $80 million to $100 million.
The introduction passed 5-0, with Collins, the land use liaison, absent. The ban passed on second read over Collins’s lone “no” vote Sept. 18.
The vote to overturn Birkner’s veto was approved by Council President Christopher Montana and members Dawson and Ray Arroyo, who are running together on the Republican ticket, and Robert Bicocchi and Beth Dell.
Collins abstained without comment. After the meeting, she explained, “I just didn’t agree with the whole thing, how that went down.”
Several councilmembers said the borough could always revisit the medical ban when they see what the governor signs and how municipalities fare: both those with and without bans and with and without dispensaries.
The ban is backed by the Police and Health departments and is in line with a recommendation from the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police.
Medical marijuana is legal in 30 states, including New Jersey, in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, cancer, major depressive disorder, and musculoskeletal disorders. More ailments are being considered.
The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act allows New Jersey residents suffering from certain debilitating and life-threatening illnesses to use and possess medical marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation. It was signed by Gov. Jon Corzine on Jan. 18, 2010.
There are six nonprofit dispensaries, or alternative treatment centers, statewide, with six more expected to be announced Nov. 1.
Pascack Valley Medical Center said that, due to the conflict between federal and state law and the unavailability of well-defined policies, procedures, and processes ensuring the safety of its patients, PVMC “is unable to support local expansion of medical marijuana dispensaries.”
Emerson, under Democratic Mayor Louis Lamatina, passed its own comprehensive marijuana ban Aug. 15 by a vote of 5-0. It was introduced June 26.
The Township of Washington, led by Republican Peter Calamari, also passed a single ban on recreational and medicinal marijuana (and vape shops) in a nearly unanimous vote July 2.
Meanwhile, the New Jersey State League of Municipalities is warning mayors that time is of the essence to reach for their slice of the revenue pie.
The league urges mayors to request their state representatives who support legalization to also support an up to 5 percent tax on marijuana-related revenues for local host communities.
A call to resign
At the governing body’s Oct. 2 meeting, Richard Benevento—“a Westwood resident since 2005, a Westwood voter since 2005, a Westwood taxpayer since 2005, and a Westwood father since 2006”—called Birkner “treasonous,” worried he was imperiling the borough’s youth, asserted he had a “personal political agenda,” and called on him to resign.
“Take your drugs somewhere else than around my sons or the children of the parents I call friends. There is no place in this community for this, and come the next mayoral election I feel no place in this community for you either,” he said.
He added, “I pray one of my children or a neighbor’s child is not crossing a street when someone operating a vehicle under the dangerous influence of marijuana blows a stop sign. I would personally hold you accountable, which is directly why I call your actions treasonous.”
In two heated exchanges—with both men jabbing each other as “sir” and suggesting the other had not read the draft legalization bill—Birkner denied he had a political agenda, restated his strong opposition to recreational marijuana sales and street drugs, and worked to steer focus to his critique of the process.
“I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about as far as a political agenda and seeking higher office. You have mischaracterized the issue actually grossly negligently. In no way, shape, or form have I ever come out and supported the legalization of marijuana,” Birkner said.
He added, “If anybody thinks it’s not here, it’s here. It’s here and it’s harmful and it’s pervasive throughout the community. Opioids are here and they’re pervasive throughout the community. I’m not responsible for people who smoke marijuana and drive, or drink and drive, or people who take prescription medications and drive, any more than anyone in this room is.”
Benevento, who said he’s in the U.S. Coast Guard and has 20 years of military service, countered, “When you vetoed the bill [sic] you supported it [legalization].” He received applause from more than a dozen residents seated behind him.
Birkner also said his veto was intended to find a toehold for medical marijuana at the hospital, should they elect to provide it.
“The chances of it actually occurring would be very small but the protection of the borough to at least have identified a zone where it could be created for that purpose protects the borough against a lawsuit from coming in and saying the blanket ban was now inconsistent with the Master Plan,” he explained.
Did the Planning Board have a plan?
Birkner complained a proposed ban being taken up by the Planning Board, with an eye to debating the merit of allowing sales only in the hospital zone, was derailed by consideration of Dawson’s ordinance.
At that, Montana, listening from the dais, closed his eyes and slowly shook his head. He would later cite Planning Board minutes to dispute Birkner’s account.
“Stating there was ‘responsible and thorough review of the issue’ prior to the introduction of Councilwoman Dawson’s ordinance is weak and a long shot at best. To discuss policy considerations as part of the re-examination of the borough’s Master Plan, most likely after the state law is passed, does not not benefit or positively serve the residents of Westwood,” Montana said.
As it turned out, the Planning Board did not recommend against the ban, saying only that it was “not inconsistent” with the Municipal Master Plan.
‘Tax revenue not worth the costs’
Resident Don Rudie, a 1979 graduate of Westwood Regional High School, said Oct. 2, “I have seen Westwood work very hard to change to the family friendly town with family values that it is today.”
He added, I feel that any additional tax revenue [from marijuana sales] will be offset by the drain on our police resources,” and said he anticipated an increase in traffic from those seeking marijuana, an increase in violent crime at any hypothetical dispensary, and an increase in burglaries.
He recommended a mail-order solution to those seeking relief from medical marijuana.
All were points Pontillo raised Aug. 21 in his presentation of a lengthy position paper on legalization.
Pontillo, who sat in the back of Council Chambers Oct. 2 and did not comment on proceedings, last week sent Pascack Press a letter that said in part he was “shocked and disappointed” to read in these pages Birkner’s account tying him to the story’s politics and that “Clearly, the marijuana issue is not a partisan one, as both Republican and Democratic controlled towns have both banned marijuana and its sales in the confines of their communities.”
He added in part, “It appears that there is a disconnect between personal feelings on the issue and what the State of New Jersey is attempting to do with the legislation. This should not be a local issue that is allowed to be divisive in nature.”
The governing body next meets Oct. 16 at 8 p.m. at Borough Hall, 101 Washington Ave.