Brick, NJ may finally allow a marijuana dispensary after 5-year ban

🌿 Brick's council will consider allowing one recreational cannabis retailer in town.

🗳️ About 65% of Brick voters backed legal recreational marijuana in 2020.

💰 Township officials previously estimated a dispensary would generate less than $66,000 in tax revenue.

BRICK — One of the last recreational cannabis holdouts in New Jersey is getting with the times.

Tonight, the Brick Township Council will consider a proposal to allow marijuana sales within its municipal borders. The Tuesday meeting agenda shows an ordinance that, if approved, would allow the township to issue one Class 5 cannabis retailer license to a single shop.

And if the proposal passes, the town would still restrict where a marijuana dispensary could open. A cannabis business wouldn't be allowed within 300 feet of a house of worship or residential zones, or within 1000 feet of schools or daycares.

The council meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Brick Township municipal building on Chambers Bridge Rd., just across the street from the Ocean County Vocational Tech School.

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Heather Diehl, Getty Images

Brick once banned dispensaries despite voters backing legalization

In November 2020, around 65% of Brick Township residents voted in favor of legalized recreational adult-use marijuana. But vocal concerned locals led to a local prohibition.

The possible end to Brick's prohibition on recreational marijuana sales comes five years after it was unanimously first enacted. Dozens of other towns that didn't want to experiment with legalized marijuana sales enacted similar bans even before it was legalized at the state level.

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At the time, Brick's local officials said a dispensary in town wouldn't be worth it; a store would bring in less than $66,000 in tax revenue. New Jersey municipalities can tax up to 2% of cannabis sales under the Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act.

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