By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY – After vociferously opposing the state’s new marijuana legalization laws at the last meeting in February, Ocean City Council members quietly approved a new zoning ordinance banning the sale, distribution and manufacture of marijuana in the resort.
The city had enacted a similar law in 2019, but city Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson explained the state’s new regulations signed into law Feb. 22 voided municipal laws that were on the books. That is why council approved the new ordinance on first reading Thursday evening at the Ocean City Music Pier.
The new ordinance “provides that facilities for the operation of marijuana cultivation, marijuana product manufacturing, marijuana testing and the sale of marijuana and/or paraphernalia that facilities the use of marijuana are prohibited uses in all zones within Ocean City.”
It adds the “mayor and City Council believe that there is no area of the city which can safely house a business selling marijuana, cannabis and/or the paraphernalia that facilitates the use of same.”
Council unanimously approved the ordinance, which will go to the zoning board for review before it returns to council for a second reading and public hearing in April.
In February, Mayor Jay Gillian and council members said they did not agree with the new law the legalities small quantities of marijuana and decriminalizes the sale of small quantities of the drug. They especially assailed a new provision that prohibits police officers from using the aroma of marijuana as reason for a search of a person or vehicle. They believe that will make it hard to enforce when confronting both adults and those under the age of 21 from smoking marijuana on the beach or boardwalk.
Council members were also upset by the provision that on first offenses, police can ticket offenders under the age of 18 but are not allowed to inform their parents of the infraction.
Public support for
medical marijuana
At the end of Thursday’s meeting during the second public comment portion – after the new ordinance was approved – three people spoke in favor of allowing medical marijuana to be dispensed through pharmacies.
Hugh Giordano of Blackwood, representing the United Food and Commercial Workers Union,
said there is a difference between legal adult use of marijuana under the new law and the use of medical marijuana. He said his labor union represents workers in the legal cannabis industry which is a fast-growing field and has half as many employees as the U.S. Postal Service.
He said council members should consider offering at least sick and dying people the opportunity to get medical marijuana from a pharmacy or dispensary and in the process help create union jobs with good wages.
Chris Almata from Dover said he is a medical cannabis patient who was involved in a car accident that shattered his pelvis, leaving him in a wheelchair for three years. He said he would like to be able to go to a shore town such as Ocean City, which has mats that allow people in wheelchairs to have access to the beach.
He said it would be nice if medical marijuana patients would also be able to get their cannabis in the resort.
“Please revisit the medical side,” he asked of council.
Marina Redmond of Sayreville said she is a medical cannabis patient who has anxiety and is battling stage four cancer. Having those medical challenges, she said, it would be nice if those visiting Ocean City or living in Ocean City could get their medical marijuana with “grace, ease and love,” and not have to spend money traveling out out of town to buy it.
She pointed out pharmacies in the resort sell opioids by prescription. She didn’t understand why they would ban cannabis which is a different type of medicine, one that has helped her with her pain. She called that a “gift from God.”
