Asbury Park Officials: Marijuana Dispensary Within City Limits A Year Away Moor: It will be done the right way and the legal way, and we will enforce all laws

By Michelle Gladden

The national conversation about marijuana legalization hit close to home this week after the word got out that the City would welcome a weed dispensary.

On Thursday, CBS News Reporter Jessica Moore interviewed Mayor John Moor [at right] for their evening broadcast.

“Asbury Park has no problem with it being sold in Asbury Park but it will be done the right way, and the legal way, and we will enforce all laws,” Moor said.

Moor said the City Council has been at the forefront of the marijuana legalization for years. Two years ago, the City Council unanimously voted to to adopt a resolution that ceremoniously supported the legalization, regulation, and taxation of marijuana for adults.

During Wednesday night’s City Council meeting, Moor said the City has begun to look at possible location and zoning areas.

“Until the state sets their parameters we cannot do anything but react,” Moor said in a telephone interview. “None of the 572 municipalities have this on their zoning plans.”

City Manager Michael Capabianco, who sits on a League of Municipalities task force addressing the matter, said he will be playing close attention to any introduced legislation and how it would play out logistically in towns and across the state.

“I have been inundated with telephone calls about this,” Capabianco said. “But we are really, at least, a year away from anything coming to fruition.”

Those telephone calls included a request from 420 Games representatives to bring the athletic event that promotes the healthy and responsible use of cannabis to town, Capabianco said.

Gov-elect Phil Murphy has said he will sign a bill legalizing marijuana within his first 100 days in office, which begins next week.

According to the CBS News report, Murphy has predicted the legal sale of marijuana could bring in a $300 million tax revenue for the state.

To date, Moor and Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop are the only two mayors who have gone on record to welcome dispensaries, while other communities like Point Pleasant Beach, Berkeley, Garfield, and Seaside Heights have moved to ban them.

“If someone wants to sit in their house and smoke a joint or bong and that’s the state law, I have no problem with it,” Moor said. “Maybe we are the California of the east coast where we start things and people follow.”

[Photos courtesy of CBS News]

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Jan 12, 2018