No action was taken, but Council President David Fleisher reiterated that there would be plenty of other opportunities for public input. The forum featured a brief presentation and an overview of decisions the township will need to make regarding cannabis sales.
Reaction from residents in attendance was mixed. Some in favor highlighted tax benefits and convenience for Cherry Hill residents, but also raised safety concerns. Others firmly against cannabis pleaded with council not to approve the sales.
Among questions for council: Is Cherry Hill going to permit cannabis sales, and if so, which classes of them? How would the township implement cannabisĀ regulations?
āAs people like to make very clear, the use of cannabis has already been legalized by the state, so this is not about, āCan cannabis be used by individuals in the municipality, in Cherry Hill?āā argued Fleisher. āThat is already legal. Tonight, weāre talking about cannabis businesses operating in Cherry Hill.ā
Director of Community Development Cosmas Diamantis ran through some legal definitions of sales. Following the passage of a 2020 referendum, the word cannabis refers to the legal form of the plant, while marijuana ā or hemp ā is its illegal form.Ā
The difference between cannabis and hemp is that the former has more than a 0.3% concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive compound that produces a high. Hemp has less than that number. Cannabidiol ā or CBD āĀ is another compound in cannabis that does not contribute to a high, according to Diamantisā presentation.Ā
āCannabis retail businesses will not be permitted to sell more than 1 ounce per transaction to a consumer, including multiple transactions,ā he noted. ā ā¦ You cannot grow your own cannabis under state law, and as of now, you are not able to buy food infused with cannabis from a retailer.āĀ
Lonnie Affrime, Cherry Hill resident and CEO of Voltaire Cannabis ā a cannabis store opening in Mount Holly in September ā encouraged council to regulate the substance and discourage over consumption by adults.
āI happen to think that regulating it is the best way to ensure that children and other people who shouldnāt be having it donāt have it,ā Affrime explained. āCannabis has a lot of laws, a lot of regulations, many of them being a good thing.Ā
āā¦ As a philosophy, we want to have the idea that cannabis consumption is okay, but itās not always safe, (and) overconsumption is a bad thing.ā
Daniel Cirucci, also a Cherry Hill resident, described himself as a āchild of the 1960sā who knows what itās like to use marijuana. He considers cannabis retail in the township a āvery, very bad idea.ā
āIāve seen what it did to some of the people I grew up with, and Iāve seen how it led them down the wrong paths,ā he recalled. ā ā¦I think Cherry Hill was right in the beginning, by not signing into the program, by not having marijuana in Cherry Hill.Ā
āTheyāre moving to have it in other towns,ā he added. āLet them have it. We donāt need it in Cherry Hill.ā
According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, adolescents who use cannabis are four to seven times more likely than adults to develop use disorder, the symptoms of which include cravings, withdrawal, lack of control and negative effects on personal and professional responsibilities.
Cirucci also noted that if there were a dispensary approved, it would likely end up on the west side of the township, where he lives, and which he described as the āgenerator for all the economy of the town.ā
āWe take the brunt of the commercial development and the traffic and everything else here on the west side of town, and I donāt know that weāre even adequately represented at this point,ā he maintained. āBut I wonāt go into that. But we know thatās probably where the marijuana dispensary would probably be, letās not kid ourselves.
āI donāt want it, I donāt need it, and the answer is quite simply, no, no, no, no.āĀ
But resident Ray Croce favors the idea of cannabis sales.
āThis isnāt aboutĀ the money, but at the same time, as a taxpayer here of Cherry Hill, it pains me to have to go to Edgewater to buy my cannabis or go down to Bellmawr to buy my cannabis and support those townships,ā he acknowledged.
ā ā¦ I work in the medical health field. Iāve seen the effects of alcoholism, Iāve seen the effects of drug abuse,ā Croce added. āItās equal, but it doesnāt mean we can prohibit it all the time. There was Prohibition (of alcohol in the U.S.) until there wasnāt.Ā
Itās maybe time to move forward and do exactly what youāre doing, be careful with it, but I think you should move forward with it and approve it.ā
The full town hall is available on the township Facebook page and at https://www.chnj.gov/DocumentCenter/View/13970/Cannabis-Presentation_7-10-2023. To learn more about cannabis, visit https://tinyurl.com/bdektfc8.Ā