BY JOHN SNYDER
OF PASCACK PRESS
WESTWOOD, N.J.—Westwood, a regional hospital town, will not have a medical marijuana dispensary within its borders following a 5-1 vote that bans medical and recreational marijuana.
The borough passed the ban in a second required vote Sept. 18, with several on the governing body, including its author, saying the restriction on medical marijuana could always be revisited.
Mayor John Birkner Jr., who spoke for the option to allow for medical marijuana, said on Sept. 19 he is “strongly considering” vetoing the ordinance, which took both bans as one.
He derided its Aug. 21 introduction by Republican Councilwoman Alyssa Dawson, the state’s youngest female official, as “theatrical,” “bad government,” and “a partisan campaign stunt” involving the chief of police.
“There’s a very good chance I’ll veto the ordinance and ask again that a new, more comprehensive ordinance be considered. I don’t think that the haste was really justified in getting it moved,” Birkner, a Democrat, told Pascack Press Sept. 19.
He also predicted his veto, should he execute one, would be overturned. A two-thirds majority vote is required.
The measure, amending borough zoning for allowable uses, passed with only Councilwoman Erin Collins—the council’s land use liaison—voting no, on the grounds that medical marijuana is both legal and an effective therapy for a wide range of ailments.
She was absent Aug. 21 when Dawson introduced the ordinance, which was not on the agenda. It passed unanimously and then went to the Planning Board for review.
The recommendation came back promptly if lukewarm, saying the ordinance “is not inconsistent” with the Municipal Master Plan.
The Board of Health and Police Department support the ban. No one spoke in favor of recreational marijuana sales.
Asked about councilmembers’ openness to amending the ordinance, Birkner was critical.
“That’s a nice way around it. Then why even put it in place? Why do it? If you’re saying that you’re considering changing it, there is no urgency. The urgency is overhyped.”
With the ban affecting “any establishment involved in the cultivation, distribution, and/or sale of marijuana, either recreational or medicinal” in in all zoning districts, Westwood joins more than 30 municipalities in the Garden State to either ban the sale of marijuana or voice opposition to legalization.
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. Additional ailments are being considered.
There are six dispensaries statewide. More than 100 new doctors have signed up since the expansion began in January, with 700 of the 28,000 licensed physicians in New Jersey so far registered to participate in the program.
The state just received 146 applications to run six new outlets that would sell the drug to the more than 30,000 people authorized to take it for their ailments.
Recreational marijuana legalization is expected to bring in $80 million in annual tax revenue.
A bill in the works must pass the state Senate and Assembly, both Democratic-controlled, and then be signed by Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, as he aimed to do within his first 100 days in office—a target that has slipped repeatedly.
After that, the state would still need to work out regulations.
Dawson told Pascack Press Sept. 18 that her reading of a draft of the bill turned up a “Trojan horse” that allows retail stores selling medical marijuana eventually to sell marijuana over the counter.
She told Pascack Press after the ordinance passed that she is in touch with friends working on the bill who are aware “‘This is big money.’ It’s all about the money.”
She added, “There’s no money in medicinal. It’s all in recreation. I worked in Trenton [on Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno’s staff]. I know how the Legislature works. It’s a shady, shady crew down there.”
Residents speak
Collins reported Sept. 18, “I am in support of a medical marijuana dispensary in our borough. I believe that we are blessed with a strong partnership in Hackensack Meridian Health Pascack Valley Medical Center as well as the countless medical practices on Old Hook Road and within our borough —we are not only a ‘Hub of the Pascack Valley,’ with transportation, dining, and entertainment, but I believe that our valuable medical resources prove our community to be progressive and forward thinking for our residents and surrounding communities.”
She noted the borough boasts two pharmacies where “any resident or non-resident can walk in […] with a prescription from their physician and obtain any pharmaceutical prescribed— OxyContin, oxycodone, Vicodin, Percocet, etc., and it is accepted without a blink of an eye.”
She said family and friends have been touched by “multiple sclerosis, crippling rheumatoid arthritis, and severe epilepsy” and find relief in medical marijuana.
“I will continue to fight for their ability to access new and safer pain management therapies over opioids every day of the week,” she said.
Resident Eric Dougherty gave a wrenching account of his mother’s final months with cancer that had spread from her breast to her esophagus.
“In the last half year of her life she used medicinal marijuana to cope with nausea, sleep deprivation, and personal well being. My mom went from not being able to be in the same room as food, rarely getting out of bed, to being able to enjoy some of her favorite foods again and spend quality time with her family,” Dougherty said.
He also questioned how the borough could tout itself as friendly and a Stigma-Free Community while denying cancer and PTSD sufferers access to a legal, advised, and effective therapy.
Other residents spoke out for the ban, echoing concerns Police Chief Michael Pontillo raised Aug. 21 in four-page position paper assailing marijuana legalization on the grounds of public health, safety, and welfare—specifically for the borough’s youth—and enforcement.
Dawson debuted the ordinance just after, reading it aloud for the benefit of all who hadn’t known it existed, including Birkner, Business Administrator Ben Kezmarsky, Borough Attorney Russell Huntington, the press, and the public.
The document was handed down the dais for a perusal, and then it passed 5-0 on first read.
Also speaking at that meeting with Pontillo, at Dawson’s invitation, was Peter Brown, a council member from the City of Linden, who urged a ban.
Medical marijuana was on Planning Board’s agenda
Birkner, who sits on the Planning Board, said that body took up medical marijuana and short-term rentals (such as airbnb) in January as part of its review of the Municipal Master Plan, just after affordable housing, which was recently settled.
He said the marijuana ordinance review “derailed a thoughtful discussion” on zoning for medical marijuana—perhaps for the hospital zone, but certainly nowhere else.
Dawson countered that the Planning Board was not moving fast enough relative to a push in Trenton to legalize recreational marijuana statewide—as it is in nine states—and to the best of her recollection had not communicated updates on marijuana discussions at council meetings since her arrival in late May.
On Sept. 19, Councilman Ray Arroyo, Dawson’s running mate, explained, “She’s on Trenton’s schedule, not the Planning Board’s schedule.”
He added, “The fact that the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police, the Westwood Board of Health and Hackensack Meridian Health—Hackensack University Medical Center have taken positions consistent with this ordinance would normally be viewed as compelling institutional support” for the ban.”
Indeed, Councilman Robert Bicocchi, who sits on the board of Pascack Valley Medical Center, sent Pascack Press a memo from PVMC CEO Emily Holliman noting the hospital is not on board with medical marijuana
“Due to the conflict between federal and state law and the current unavailability of well-defined policies, procedures, and processes ensuring the safety of its patients, PVMC is unable to support local expansion of ATCs (i.e. Medical Marijuana dispensaries) which will undoubtedly result in increased usage of medical marijuana by the local community which the hospital serves,” Holliman said.
Asked her views as Democratic council candidate, Jodi Murphy, running with James Whelan, told Pascack Press on Sept. 21 that she would support a dispensary at the hospital—but not recreational marijuana.
She described a harrowing helicopter accident that left her sister in chronic pain.
“Cannabinoids have been used to successfully treat pain and inflammation, and the use of CBD achieves this without the ‘high’ that comes with THC. So much is still to be learned, but if medical marijuana has been prescribed to residents in our town, and it is easing their ailments, why would we deny them convenient access?” she said.
Dawson said she is working with state Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi to allow seriously ill and immobile patients across New Jersey to receive their medicinal marijuana “through a licensed and well-regulated in-home delivery service, eliminating any need for a dispensary within our town limits.”