Mount Olive bans marijuana-related businesses

MOUNT OLIVE— Township officials voted unanimously to ban all marijuana-related business in Mount Olive despite the state’s move to legalize cannabis earlier this year. 

The ban prohibits the sale, cultivation, delivery and distribution of marijuana within Mount Olive, per the ordinance. The new regulations will take effect later this month. 

“Due to the detrimental impacts that permitting one or more classes of cannabis business might have on New Jersey municipalities, and our community in particular, it is at this time appropriate and necessary,” read the ordinance passed on Tuesday. 

Municipalities have until Aug. 21, six months from when New Jersey officially legalized marijuana in February, to decide whether they will allow sales within their borders or pass an ordinance banning it. If they miss that deadline, growing and selling will automatically be permitted for a five-year period. Towns can also regulate operating hours for retail and distribution centers under state rules.

Last month, Mount Olive officials held a webinar to discuss the state’s new rules and regulations around marijuana use and business. Township officials said there were “too many unknowns” with New Jersey’s new guidelines. Council President Joe Nicastro said the township could “opt-in” once it had a better understanding of state guidelines and their implications on the municipality. 

“But it made good sense now, as a governing body, not to approve something we don’t know about yet,” said Nicastro during the webinar last month.