Two and a half years after New Jersey made medical marijuana legal, the state finally has a willing home to produce it.
Egg Harbor Township will house the first pot farm and treatment facility in the state beginning this coming fall, reports the Star-Ledger.
Compassionate Care Foundation, a nonprofit group, will be opening a 85,000-square-foot building for growing and dispensing purposed in the Offshore Commercial Park off of Delilah Road in Egg Harbor, according to the Press of Atlantic City.
Though there are six dispensaries authorized by the state, none have yet to open. Groups trying to find a place to start their grow business have been blocked by protesting resident in townships across the state over the past two years.
Egg Harbor Township issued the Compassionate Care Foundation a zoning permit after the group was on the verge of suing the town of Westampton. The foundation put money down on a property in Westampton, only to get its zoning application rejected by the town’s land-use board, reports the Star-Ledger.
If plans in Egg Harbor go forward, Bill Thomas, the CEO of the group Compassionate Care, told the Star-Ledger that they will probably drop the pending lawsuit against Westampton.
"If Egg Harbor Township welcomes us, we have no reason [to sue]," Thomas said.
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Mayor Egg Harbor Township, James “Sonny McCullough, told the Star-Ledger that the health department still has to give approval, but he doesn’t see any reason why the facility wouldn’t get the go-ahead.
“Quite frankly, the township is not in the position to oppose it because it meets the criteria that was set by our zoning laws," McCullough told the newspaper. "I think that is very important."
“You’re always going to have pushback. I wouldn’t know why people would be opposed," McCullough said. "There are certainly more powerful narcotic drugs given to people to relieve pain than medical marijuana. But you’re always going to have somebody who is opposed to something."
