Officials in a central New Jersey town are set to vote Thursday on a unique approach to keep a legal marijuana growing facility from taking root.
Upper Freehold Township officials have proposed an ordinance that would block local approval for anything that breaks federal law. The concerns also include security questions and what type of facility might be built.
The idea came after Breakwater Alternative Treatment Center announced plans to grow medical marijuana in greenhouses on a farm in the rural Monmouth County community.
Breakwater is considering filing a lawsuit seeking to uphold the state's Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, if the proposed ban is passed by the township committee, according to The Star-Ledger.
Breakwater is also interested in locating a separate site where patients would get their marijuana, in Manalapan. That site also faces local approval.
New Jersey's law that allows medical marijuana for patients with certain conditions has been slow to launch. The state selected six nonprofit groups to grow and sell the pot. But so far only one has announced full zoning approval for its operations.
Others have run into local opposition.
Politics
New Jersey was the 14th state to enact a medicinal marijuana law.
