NJ legal weed was overwhelmingly backed by voters; so why are towns banning it? – Asbury Park Press

As municipalities weigh how to handle the nascent cannabis industry setting up shop in the Garden State, a USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey analysis of the November ballot question legalizing marijuana reveals an almost universal message from voters across the state: “historically popular” support.

Marijuana legalization won the support of voters in 562 of the 565 municipalities in New Jersey, according to the analysis, the most detailed review of the vote undertaken to date.

And of the three towns where voters rejected the ballot question, two are among the smallest towns in the state with less than 15 registered voters each.

The review, with scant exception, showed the pro-legalization vote prevailed north, central and south, in “red” and “blue” swaths of the state, and in rural and urban areas alike.

The actual ballot question — which amended the constitution to legalize the possession, use, purchase, sale and taxation of marijuana — passed 67% to 33% statewide; the analysis, however, showed for the first time how the pro-legalization vote transcended familiar boundaries.

How did your town vote on the New Jersey legal weed ballot question? Find it in the map below: 

The widespread success of the New Jersey legal weed ballot question, in part, prompted legislators in New York and Virginia to heat up their own marijuana legalization efforts, said Evan Nison, vice chair of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, the country’s oldest marijuana legalization advocacy group.

“It was historically popular in New Jersey. The public has always led the politicians on this and, in New Jersey, that was even more pronounced,” Nison said. “That’s an indicator to politicians across the whole eastern seaboard. Marijuana prohibition is falling much quicker in large part because of how big this was in New Jersey.”

Nonetheless, since Gov. Phil Murphy signed enabling marijuana legalization into law Feb. 22, dozens of towns in New Jersey have passed ordinances opting out of the cannabis industry — essentially banning all legal weed dispensaries, grow facilities and manufacturers. Towns are not allowed to ban their residents from consuming marijuana, according to state law, nor can they ban licensed cannabis delivery companies from making stops within their borders.

Against the backdrop of the nearly universal support for recreational marijuana — as seen in the analysis of the November vote — the local ordinances opposing marijuana businesses set up a clear disconnect between town governments opposing the legal weed industry, even when a majority of residents support it.

“I guarantee that, if you put a question saying, ‘Point Pleasant Beach, do you want a marijuana grow or storefront here, it would fail overwhelmingly – Republicans, Democrats, independents,” said Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Paul Kanitra, whose borough council has already introduced an opt-out ordinance.

“We have to look at the reality of the situation – most of our problems as a town in the summertime come from the overconsumption of drugs and alcohol.

“That’s the thing about government, it’s not black and white. You’ll never hear me demonize marijuana users. I’m not a zealot, and I’m not too proud to change my mind if the circumstances change.”

In the state’s most well-known liberal enclaves, legal weed won with a supermajority. Voters in South Orange, Asbury Park, Hoboken and Montclair all supported the marijuana legalization ballot question at an 84% clip.

About 75% of voters in the state’s two biggest cities, Newark and Jersey City, approved the ballot question. But in smaller cities like Paterson and Elizabeth – the third- and fourth-largest cities in the state, respectively – support dipped to 67% and 62%.

But legal weed was also largely supported by voters in New Jersey’s staunchest Republican fortresses, following national trends that show marijuana legalization has become a purple, bipartisan issue.

A Quinnipiac University poll released last week reported that 69% of voters nationwide supported legalizing weed, including 78% of Democrats, 68% of Republicans and 67% of independent voters.

For proof of bipartisan support of marijuana legalization, look no further than Ocean County.

It is the Republican seat of power in New Jersey, whose power brokers almost single-handedly determine who will run on the Republican ticket for governor each year. Its residents were megadonors to the Trump Administration. Its former party chairman was pardoned by President Donald Trump during his last few hours in office.

And in this conservative capital of New Jersey, more than 60% of voters backed legal weed.

Voters in Toms River, the county seat, marijuana legalization was more popular than Trump: About 64% of voters supported legal weed – 32,000 “yes” votes, the third-highest of any New Jersey municipality – while just 60% voted for Trump. 

“Certain parts of the Republican Party have lagged Democrats when it comes to supporting legalization, but the Republican voters have always supported this more than their elected officials,” Nison said. “It’s truly a bipartisan issue now.”

The 60% margin in Ocean County is the lowest among all New Jersey counties. About 65% of voters in Warren and Sussex counties supported legal weed – seven points higher than the 58% Trump carried in each of those counties. The highest vote margin was in Camden County, where 75% of voters backed legal weed, and Essex County, with 72%.

In some smaller, conservative towns, legal weed was almost a 50-50 issue. It had just 50.18% support in Deal, inching over a majority by just five votes. In nearby Sea Girt, a difference of just 60 votes separated the “yes” and “no” piles.”

The marijuana legalization ballot question failed to reach 50% support in only three municipalities. The issue was soundly rejected by voters in Lakewood, where only 31% of its 29,000 voters cast “yes” ballots. 

Though he has concerns about the lack of an empirical test to determine drugged driving, Lakewood Mayor Ray Coles said he was glad New Jersey voters legalized weed, specifically citing the need to end marijuana arrests: “Too many lives have been wasted because of criminal convictions,” he said.

RELATED: ‘A whole new experience’ with legal weed, police chief says

But many of his residents and community leaders oppose swinging the doors open for legal weed. 

More than 70 rabbis signed a letter discouraging the town from allowing dispensaries, and drug use of any kind is shunned upon by the town’s burgeoning Orthodox Jewish community, which makes up an estimated two-thirds of Lakewood’s population of over 106,000. 

And even if the Lakewood Township Committee wanted to license a dispensary, Coles isn’t sure where it would go: With an estimated 150 public and private schools in the town, much of it is a drug-free school zone.

State law prohibits any drug possession or sale within 1,000 feet of school grounds, including licensed cannabis businesses. Operators must also adhere to any local drug-free school zone laws. 

“The Orthodox community is very conservative. A lot of popular culture isn’t seen as positive — there are very few, if any, televisions in homes,” Coles said. “Smartphones have filtering software to they can’t take you to certain websites. And the kids spend an awful amount of time in school learning secular and religious studies.

“It’s just a conservative town.”

The other two municipalities where legal weed failed were Walpack in Sussex County and Tavistock in Camden County, the two smallest municipalities in the state. Of Walpack’s 13 registered voters, only 11 cast ballots on legal weed, rejecting it by a 5-to-6 vote. 

In Tavistock, the question tied with a 1-to-1 vote. The town has just seven registered voters.

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Marijuana crosses generational divides

About 58% of voters supported marijuana legalization in the state’s 10 youngest towns, according to Census records. 

Those include the state’s traditional college towns, like New Brunswick (where Rutgers University is headquartered) and Glassboro (home of Rowan University), where the median age is 23.6 and 28.2 years old, respectively, and 76% and 72% voted “yes” on legal weed.

But it also includes suburban and rural towns like Chesterfield and North Hanover, in Burlington County, where two-thirds of voters supported legal weed and the median age between 29 and 30 years old. 

The only outlier? Lakewood, once again, where legal weed was voted down by a margin lager than 2-to-1. It’s the youngest municipality in the state by median age, 16.3 — driven, like its booming population, by families with large numbers of children.

MORE: Can NJ stop the exodus of young people? 

Combined, the 10 youngest municipalities in New Jersey supported marijuana legalization at a 58% rate.

But in the 10 towns with the oldest median age, marijuana legalization support stayed at 58%. 

In Cape May Point, median age 73.3, more than 61% of voters supported legal weed. And between 55% and 67% of voters cast “yes” ballots in Long Beach Township, Lavallette, Harvey Cedars and Avalon, all with a median age about 65 years old.

Marijuana as a common denominator among the generations is nothing new. According to a Quinnipiac University poll released last week, 69% of voters nationwide support legal weed, including more than three-quarters of voters under 34 years old and more than half of voters over 65 years old.

“Most people realize they were lied to at one point in their life about cannabis,” Nison said.

‘Learning curve’

But while voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of legalizing marijuana, elected officials in many towns have remained steadfastly against them.

In December 2017, Point Pleasant Beach became one of the first municipalities in New Jersey to introduce an ordinance banning legal weed businesses such as dispensaries, grow facilities and manufacturers, though such businesses were years away from reality.

And four years later, the council has introduced another ordinance opting out of legal weed — state law rendered all previous opt-out ordinances moot — though Kanitra, the town’s mayor, said he wasn’t expressly against marijuana use or legalization in general. 

“I’m not anti-marijuana. I’m anti- any more vices in town,” he said. “I don’t want more liquor stores. We’ve already moved to limit the number of vape shops and cigarette places.”

Under the new law authorizing legal weed, marijuana home delivery is expressly allowed, even in towns where businesses themselves are outlawed. And Kanitra doesn’t expect Point Pleasant Beach residents will have to drive very far outside of the borough to obtain it themselves. 

RELATED: Zen Leaf Neptune opens, 16th NJ medical marijuana dispensary 

“If we were the size of Jackson or Stafford, I genuinely think I’d have a different position. If my residents had to drive an hour to get marijuana, I think I’d be in a much different mindset,” Kanitra said. “Other towns are going to fill the need for my residents — and they can still get marijuana delivered to their homes, whether it’s someone with glaucoma or someone who just wants to have a good weekend.”

Municipalities have until August to pass an ordinance either prohibiting or otherwise setting regulations for marijuana businesses, or else they will be grandfathered into existing retail and industrial zones.

“A municipal ban doesn’t necessarily ban candidates from that municipality, it just bans our ability to regulate an industry there,” said Jeff Brown, executive director of the Cannabis Regulatory Commission, which will oversee the medical marijuana and legal weed industries in New Jersey. “I would encourage all municipalities to work with us, wait to see the regulations that we do before making a decision on which way you want to go.

“Certainly, we want to hear from all of you on your concerns and the issues that you’re facing with your constituents, but it’s going to be important that these businesses have a place to go and have a place to set up.”

The Lakewood Township Committee has already introduced its ordinance banning marijuana sales. But Coles took solace in the fact that it’s just an ordinance — and future committees could change their mind.

“I think what it’s really going to take in Lakewood, and for a lot of other towns, is time — time for people to get used to the idea,” Coles said. “I’m 63 and my entire life, it’s been illegal and criminal. People were raised on that and I think it’s going to take time for people to see that it has a place, that it’s not to different from alcohol — which is readily accepted by most people in town.

“There’s going to be a learning curve.”

Mike Davis has spent the last decade covering New Jersey local news, marijuana legalization, transportation and basically whatever else is going on at any given moment. Contact him at mdavis@gannettnj.com or @byMikeDavis on Twitter.