The Current State of Legal Cannabis in Voorhees NJ

Resinate Dispensary, Northampton, Mass

In November 2020, NJ voters went to the poll and overwhelmingly approved legalizing adult-use marijuana by a 2 to 1 margin (67% to 33%). In Camden County, it was 75% to 25% and in Voorhees, it was 73% to 27%. After this vote, individual municipalities still had the option to allow or ban cannabis businesses in their town, though they cannot prevent residents from purchasing cannabis elsewhere and consuming it in their municipality.

On March 14, 2022, the Voorhees Township Committee passed ordinances allowing for the establishment of cannabis businesses within the Township. Rules were set up for their location, hours of operation, noise, landscaping and other regulations. Voorhees allowed for the establishment of up to 10 cannabis businesses, of which 5 could be retail adult use dispensaries.

The Township set up 4 specific Zones where Cannabis businesses could be located:

NJ designated 6 classes of cannabis businesses:

Class 1 - Cultivator
Class 2 - Manufacturer
Class 3 - Wholesaler
Class 4 - Distributor
Class 5 - Retailer (aka dispensaries)
Class 6 - Delivery

The rest of this post will deal only with Class 5 businesses.

In order to establish a dispensary in town, three things must happen: 1) the Township must issue a letter of support, acknowledging that the business meets all the local requirements to establish the business within the Township limits. 2) The state must issue a license. 3) The licensee must appear before the Planning Board for approval.

To date, the Voorhees Township Committee has issued 5 ordinances for retail dispensaries, acknowledging that these businesses meet all local requirements (step 1 above):

Glass World Consulting issued March 18, 2022 for 326 Route 73
Nirvana Dispensary LLC issued 5/9/22 for 250 Route 73 *
Greenhouse Group NJ issued 5/23/22 for 304 Route 73
Floro Voorhees LLC issued 5/23/22 for 1101 White Horse Road
Eastern Green Inc d/b/a Starbuds issued 6/13/22 for 78 Route 73

(*A conditional retail license was granted to 'Nirvana Dispensaries' with a Trenton business address at the July 22nd NJ CRC meeting. I am unable to confirm whether this is the same 'Nirvana Dispensary' that is looking to open in Voorhees. It does not appear that any of the other 4 have receieved conditional licenses at the time of this writing.)

The first three properties on the list are clustered together on the east side of Route 73 near the Voorhees diner.

The three properties in blue are (from top to bottom) 326 Route 73, 304 Route 73 and 250 Route 73 respectively.

Floro of Voorhees would be located on White Horse Road near the Voorhees Target.

The 5th on the list (Starbuds) is the most interesting as of the time of this writing, as it is the only one that has taken the next step. This dispensary would be located on Route 73 near Cooper Road, next to the 7-11. According to a public notice issued yesterday, this property will go before the Voorhees Planning Board on August 10th for approval to open a medical dispensary. According to the public notice, "the Applicant has also been awarded a license to operate a medical cannabis dispensary... from the NJ Cannabis Regulatory Commission...Subject to CRC approval, the Applicant intends to also serve adult-use cannabis customers under a Class 5 Cannabis Retail License."

As far as I can tell, Starbuds has not yet been granted an adult-use license, but it would appear they have applied for one. The location on Route 73 is currently the home of Mr Tire.

Both the Mr Tire and GoodYear (the center and right buildings in the photo) are on the property in question. The building to the left is 7-11.

According to the Public Notice, there are two buildings on the property that have been used for auto service. One building will continue to be used for auto services. The other building would become a dispensary. (It does not specify which building would be the dispensary.) "No renovations need to be made to the exterior of the buildings, drive aisles, parking spaces or traffic circulation." The applicant proposes to upgrade landscaping, including installation of trees, shrubs and groundcover, and adding sidewalks. While the building will need interior renovations, it would seem that this could be completed in a fairly quick timeframe upon approval from the Planning Board.

Stay tuned....

The rest of this post is copied verbatim from my 'The Current State of Legal Cannabis in Evesham."

Many people have expressed concerns about having cannabis retailers in town - fears of it bringing crime, causing litter, of serving children, of leading to addiction, of being tacky and looking like Las Vegas. While I can’t predict what the future holds, I would like to address some of those concerns from personal experience. Over the past year, I have visited Northampton Massachusetts several times, where cannabis has been legal since 2018, and I have spoken with people here saying that NJ regulations will be quite similar to what is in place up there, and that current medical facilities here follow similar procedures.

First, regarding them serving children. Some have pointed out that it is really easy for underage residents to get vaping products or even purchase beer. However, the purchasing of vapes, alcohol and cannabis are all very different. For vapes and alcohol, there is no requirement to produce a drivers license. A storekeeper doesn’t have to ask you for ID if they think you are of age. So if a 16 year old looks old enough (or if a shopkeeper just wants the sale), they can sell it without asking for ID.

Cannabis purchases are different. When you enter a dispensary, you are in a lobby with no product. A set of locked double doors prevents you from getting on to the sales floor. You need to provide your Drivers License to get further. In addition to an employee checking the photo, your drivers license is scanned using the bar code on the back. Fake IDs generally won’t scan. Once you are allowed into the showroom, you will not touch any cannabis for sale. While there may be paraphernalia on open shelves, the cannabis is kept out of site or in locked jewelry cases. You won’t be able to shoplift cannabis.

Cannabis comes in factory sealed packaging

All the cannabis products for sale are pre-packaged – there is no handling of actual cannabis in the store. You can buy cannabis ‘flower’ in factory-sealed packages, cannabis pre-rolls (joints) in sealed containers, etc.

The Hempest, Northampton, Massachussetts.

A dispensary looks like any other store – here is Jack’s Cannabis in Northampton Mass, in a strip mall right next to a Talbot’s. It looks like any other retail business.

Jack's Cannabis, Northampton, Massachussetts

Northampton Massachusetts is a town of almost 30,000 and it now has 9 adult-use dispensaries open. (By comparison, Evesham has 45,000 people and has a limit of 5 dispensaries.) When cannabis was first legalized in Massachusetts, many residents there expressed the same reservations about having dispensaries in their town. Massachusetts law allowed municipalities to charge a 'community impact fee', money to be used for unforeseen issues that cannabis retailers may bring to a community - the need for added parking, increased police presence, increased 911 usage, etc.

As of January 2021, Northampton stopped collected the community impact fee.

In an interview with the Mayor of Northampton published last year, the mayor stated the following: “A lot of the concerns, potential concerns, about this industry mostly came from people who opposed legalization and thought there would be increases in crime, or there would be increases in drug abuse, etcetera. And I think those concerns have not materialized. We certainly haven’t seen that here in Northampton.”

Balagan Cannabis, Northampton MA

The Hempest, Northampton, MA

You can find links to the Voorhees Cannabis Ordinance and Zoning maps here: https://voorheesnj.com/2022/01/20/cannabis-ordinance-and-map/

You can reach me at MarltonNeil@yahoo.com with any questions or corrections.

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