Officials in New Jersey’s rural farming communities of western Ocean and Monmouth Counties consider ordinances that would block Medical Marijuana Farms.

30th District State Assemblyman and Plumsted Township Mayor Ron Dancer says the new ordinance is being considered in Plumsted and Upper Freehold Townships. He says it requires “If there’s an application before a planning board or zoning board, whatever the type of business that it is, it must be in compliance with Federal Law.”

Dancer says New Jersey’s Medical Marijuana Law has a one-size-fits-all security standard in place for marijuana cultivating centers that may not work for towns with little to no police presence.

“So the concern is, while we are sensitive to the compassionate medical use for patients because they need and deserve all the legal and pharmaceutical prescription drugs that can give them a better quality of life; On the other hand, our quality of life in these rural farming communities needs to be maintained that we will not be in a position to have the resources to provide for additional security measures with the medical crops being farmed in our areas.”

Dancer has also introduced a bill in the State Assembly (A-4411) that amends New Jersey’s Medical Marijuana Act. He says it “is to provide the statutory authority to any municipality in the State of New Jersey to require safety measures and standards greater than in the State Act.”

Upper Freehold and Millstone Townships have no local police departments. They rely on the New Jersey State Police.

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