Secaucus Town Council Bans Recreational Marijuana Sales In Town

SECAUCUS, NJ — At its monthly Council meeting Tuesday night, the Secaucus town council unanimously voted to ban anyone seeking to sell marijuana in town.

But in these hazy days of is-pot-legal-in-New-Jersey-or-isn't-it, what exactly does this mean?

The zoning ordinance mainly prohibits a retail business that would seek to open in Secaucus and sell recreational pot and paraphernalia, should recreational marijuana become legal in the state, explained Ken Porro, the town's general counsel. Any such business would have to first seek a variance from the Town Council to open, a variance they likely would not get.

"We already have medical marijuana, which we approve of," said Mayor Mike Gonnelli Tuesday night at the meeting. He was referring to the state's sixth and final medical marijuana dispensary that has been in operation for about a month on Castle Road. "It's here and I think they've sold to about 1,000 patients so far. We haven't had any problems with that. But recreational marijuana we have an issue with."

"This is something we're going to take all the way," the mayor vowed, clearly passionate about the issue. "We're trying to get a jump on this before Gov. Murphy adopts (recreational) marijuana. And because Secaucus has a medical marijuana facility already, we don't want that to turn into a recreational marijuana facility."

Led by Gov. Phil Murphy, momentum in Trenton is rapidly growing to legalize recreational marijuana in New Jersey. In a memo sent just today, July 24, to all county prosecutors across the state, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal asked for an adjournment of all marijuana cases in municipal courts statewide until at least Sept. 4. That means anyone who is arrested and charged with pot possession in New Jersey will not have that case prosecuted until after Sept. 4.

The Secaucus marijuana dispensary is one of six facilities that were issued permits by the state. But the state of New Jersey, under the Murphy administration, put out a call this summer for more dispensaries to open.

Gov.Murphy said on Tuesday he was "all in" for legalization but not for decriminalization, which puts use of the drug "in the hands of the bad guys."

If anyone is opposed to Secaucus' new ordinance, which was just introduced and has not yet been made a town law, there will be public hearing on Aug. 28 where the public will be invited to speak.

Several other towns across New Jersey have passed similar ordinances: The town councils in Toms River, Old Bridge and Point Pleasant all voted earlier this year to ban recreational pot shops from opening in those towns. Chatham Township plans to do the same.

And now you can add Secaucus to the list.

Asbury Park and Jersey City are the two most prominent towns so far that said they would welcome pot retail stores.

In fact, Jersey City Mayor Fulop directed his municipal prosecutor this week to decriminalize marijuana, but was severely reprimanded by the New Jersey Attorney General Grewal saying he did not have the authority to do such a thing.

On Monday, the NJ AG met with Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez to discuss Jersey City's memorandum issued last week.

"During that meeting, the Attorney General made clear that Jersey City’s decriminalization memorandum was an improper exercise of a municipal prosecutor’s authority and reiterated that it was void," said Grewal in a statement today.

The Attorney General also expressed his concern that Jersey City had acted without consulting state and county law enforcement officials before issuing the memorandum. He was particularly concerned that the rushed issuance of the memorandum – which placed officers in a position of enforcing valid laws that some may mistakenly believe had been rescinded – could undermine the community trust that law enforcement officers in Jersey City and elsewhere have worked so hard to build and could jeopardize officer safety.

At the conclusion of yesterday’s meeting, the Attorney General stated that he wanted to work with criminal justice stakeholders – including County Prosecutor Suarez and the Jersey City Chief Municipal Prosecutor – to clarify the scope and appropriate use of prosecutorial discretion in marijuana-related offenses in municipal court.

The state Attorney General also reiterated that municipal prosecutors do not have the authority to unilaterally decriminalize marijuana-related offenses.

On Tuesday morning, the Jersey City mayor's office issued a press release that did not accurately describe yesterday’s meeting and made it appear as if the Attorney General had already agreed to the outcome of the working group and the content of the directive, Grewal said.

"The Mayor of Jersey City did not participate in yesterday’s meeting and the Attorney General regrets the inaccuracy of the city’s press statements," he said.

Related:

Secaucus Medical Marijuana Dispensary Opens: Exclusive Tour

Old Bridge Bans Recreational Marijuana; Jersey City Welcomes It

Photo: The Secaucus town Council on Tuesday night, July 24. Photo and reporting by Carly Baldwin/Patch