Mayor Carl Hokanson, at the February 1st municipal meeting, made mention of an issue that is, at some point, going to impact not only Roselle Park, but the state as well – whether or not to have a cannabis/marijuana dispensary in Roselle Park. On January 30th, Mayor Hokanson met with other heads of municipalities in Clark at a mayors’ roundtable where the matter came up.
“The hot topic is the legalization of marijuana that the governor has plans on signing. There’s pros, there’s cons,” commented Mayor Hokanson.
He informed the public that the Public Safety Committee will meet with Roselle Park Police Chief Paul Morrison to discuss whether or not to have a cannabis/marijuana dispensary. Mayor Hokanson added, “It will be a workshop [topic] because they are going to give us the option to opt-in or opt-out to have a dispensary in the borough . . . It’s a financial thing.”
A bill proposed by State Assemblyman Reed Gusciora plans to legalize cannabis for recreational purposes while limiting the total number of marijuana dispensaries to 80 among the state’s 565 municipalities. Additionally, Assemblyman Gusciora’s bill would also allow residents to grow up to six (6) cannabis plants in an enclosed space at their home with only three of those plants being mature (producing marijuana) at any one time. A single household could grow up to 12 plants with no more than half of them being mature.
Even though recreational marijuana might become legal in New Jersey, it is still illegal under federal law.