Millburn Town Committee Answers A Question: Medical Pot, Or Not?

MILLBURN, NJ — While marijuana usage may be gaining acceptance in New Jersey — a statewide referendum will be on the ballot in November to potentially legalize recreational use — the Millburn Township Committee made it clear at a meeting last month that they weren't going to make it easier for people to dispense the substance in town for medical use.

The Township Committee voted unanimously at its Feb. 18 meeting to withdraw resolution 20-069 to "Establish Procedure for Prospective Alternative Treatment Center (ATC) or ATC Satellite Applications for Location within the Township of Millburn."

The resolution would have provided conditions for alternative medical treatment centers, like marijuana dispensaries, to open in town.

In the weeks leading to the vote, residents speculated on social media that the resolution was meant to make it easier for one specific business to move to town. They said the proposed area was too close to homes and schools.

Numerous residents, including a doctor who's raising his kids in town, attended the committee meeting to express concerns.

Several said they didn't want to tie up police personnel — either with added traffic, or with dispensary clients who might choose to use the substance nearby.

Several speakers said they were concerned that if recreational use becomes legal, the medical marijuana dispensaries might try to serve that population too.

A doctor who lives in Millburn echoed other residents who said any financial benefit of a 2 percent tax from a dispensary was "not worth it."

"It is a gateway drug," he said, adding that he and his wife, also a doctor, appreciate its medicinal uses.

But he was worried about its influence on local children.

"We all moved to this town to create a safe haven for our kids," he said. "I have two kids. I don't want them to be associated with marijuana growing up, or with friends who are addicted to marijuana. It's not a harmless drug."

Another resident said, about local schools, "They have enough problems with vaping."

"We do not want it in our backyards," wrote a resident on Facebook on Feb. 13. "It will be in the back yards of some homes on Meadowbrook and Canterbury. These homes have small children."

Residents' comments at the meeting can be viewed here and here.

The committee members spoke after the residents and shared concerns that constituents had brought to them.

Former Mayor and current Committeewoman Dianne Thall-Eglow said she had also heard from people "off line" who favored dispensaries, but who didn't want to put their name to such a comment.

She said the town had gotten a reputation of being unfriendly to businesses, and that a business person who wanted to open a dispensary in town had had trouble getting a response.

She also said she was aware of the positives of medical marijuana. "This isn't 'Reefer Madness' days," she said, referring to a film made in 1936 to dissuade young people from drug use.

She said a business should at least get a chance to have a hearing.

"We need to start being open....let's open this town up to new ideas," she said. "Let's stop saying no, no, no."

But the committee, including Thall-Eglow, voted 5-0 to withdraw the resolution for now.

Medical marijuana use was legalized in New Jersey in late 2010, but that doesn't mean that a town has to allow for it in its zoning rules.

Thirty-three states in the United States have approved marijuana for medical use, and 11 for recreational.

The American Automobile Association in North Jersey recently came out against legalization for recreational use, saying that numbers showed it led to more car accidents.

Millburn does have a hemp store, Garden State Hemp, located downtown. Hemp is the varieties of the cannabis plant that contain .3 percent or less THC content, and thus lack psychotropic properties.

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