CANNABIS

(Continued from Page 8) system” and has to also be “registered before going into secure storage.” A scale, he noted, is “typically” located on a counter in the “receiving room.”

“There are very specific requirements for a wholesaler, or cultivator bringing product in, and (that they are subject to) before leaving, (outlining) where it (the product) needs to go,” added D’Agostino, maintaining that any inventory is “recounted” and “reweighed” before going into direct storage.

As for checking identification, D’Agostino could only say that it is “verified by a third party” and that “regulators don’t allow operators to pick that system,” and in cases of any online purchases, “it is not like Amazon where it (the item) is left at the front door,” but rather cannabis retailers perform “attended deliveries.”

Discarding waste, the public relations person pointed out, is also a process that has been planned, asserting “if any product is deemed not to be sold because of a quality of standard issue,” etc., it would still be entered into the seed to sale tracking system, but “marked” as “needing to be destroyed,” before being moved into secure storage “until” a “third party approved by the CRC can take it for disposal or destruction.”

Despite all those assurances, D’Agostino was queried as to how “minors” would be handled, and if they will be permitted to be waiting in the parking lot of the facility.

“I don’t believe so,” is how some of the Alchemy Botanics representatives initially responded, but then the township council was advised that per state regulations, “the only reason a minor can come into the facility is if they are accompanied by a parent, effectively.”

While that appeared to come as a surprise to some attending the meeting, the township council was further advised the “rationale for that rule” is that “you don’t necessarily want kids to stay in cars.”

“Practically speaking, most folks aren’t bringing kids into a cannabis dispensary, just like most people don’t bring their kids into liquor store,” D’Agostino said.

Some of the township councilmembers picked up on the fact that it was mentioned in Alchemy Botanics’ plans that it is in possession of a liquor license, inherited from the former owner of the facility at issue.

“No proposed liquor is allowed on this site,” D’Agostino replied. “It (the license) sort of ran with the property. So, it is included in the document. That would either be disposed of or sold, but no, it is not associated with the site. And that (selling liquor) is not allowed under your regulations or the CRC’s regulations.”

Rather, the liquor license is just “part of the asset” the owners of 6 Fort Dix Road inherited with the sale, D’Agostino maintained.

But a seemingly burning question that Ward put to the Alchemy Botanics representatives and owners is, “Why Pemberton Township?”

That is when the GOP councilman pointed to the outcome in the recent township election, which saw a Republican swept into the mayoral office for the first time in 16 years, and two Republicans, including him, being elected to council, with Democrats now holding a narrow 3-2 majority on the governing body, before declaring, “Me and my fellow councilman, and mayor, had ‘Pemberton Township is Open for Business’ as our slogan, but I am sorry, it is not open for a federally illegal business.”

Ward continued that he is “not against casual adult recreational use of marijuana,” but rather his issue is “several-fold,” including what would be the dispensary’s proximity to the local school system’s various educational buildings, including by pointing out its location to the Pemberton Board of Education Office, he alleged, is within 1,000 feet.

He called it “very odd” that the township Cannabis ordinance, previously passed 3-2 under absolute majority Democratic rule, provides for only a “500-foot leeway to a school system,” and asked, “Who drew your circles?” or the ones presented earlier in the presentation showing what is both in a 500 foot and 1,000 foot radius to 6 Fort Dix Road, appearing to suggest there might have been some sort of coordination with the prior administration (though Patriarca previously maintained he was staunchly against allowing cannabis in Pemberton, though he declined to use his veto powers to override council).

Ward’s repeated reference that the leeway is “odd,” as well as Dewey asking a pointed question of, “How long have you been talking to Pemberton?” led longtime meeting regular America Phillips to angrily demand to know “the truth,” screaming at one point, “Don’t lie to me!” The remaining Democratic members on township council, Gardner, McCartney, and Paul Detrick, were the ones who put the cannabis ordinance in motion, legalizing such businesses in the township.

“Shame on you!” Phillips angrily continued to scream. “You voted ‘yes’! What are you doing to the children of this town? You want to bring these people here? You got the church next door, the child center (Pemberton Early Childhood Education Center) on the other corner. Every single bus goes by this, every day! What were you thinking in your minds? … There are other ways to be making money in this town!”

Phillips was referring to not only the Pemberton Early Childhood Education Center being just down the street on Arney’s Mount Road, which intersects with Fort Dix Road, but also Pemberton Township High School, in addition to two nearby elementary schools. Given the geography of the area, large numbers of people and school buses wishing to commute to and from these schools, pass by 6 Fort Dix Road.

According to Ward, federal law is “clear” marijuana is not be used 1,000 feet from “any property used for school purposes, including playgrounds,” calling any such use a “federal crime,” and asserted that the township ordinance “tried to circumvent that issue.”

Additionally, Ward, who pointed out he has heard opposition from “my constituents,” maintained that federal law “identifies” marijuana as a “Schedule One Controlled Substance” that “has potential for abuse.”

His son, Ward said, a member of the U.S. Coast Guard involved in Homeland Security activities, could sit across the street at a Wawa store, right now, and “wait for someone to exit” any cannabis retailer at 6 Fort Dix Road and after observing them exit, “arrest them,” a fact that he declared, “sounds interesting to me.”

In response to Ward, who declared he could not support the application and “highly recommended” Alchemy Botanics hire a “surveyor,” D’Agostino responded that he “wouldn’t be able to comment further.”

D’Agostino, however, after Philips demanded answers, ultimately responded that the firm “reached out to Pemberton, mainly Pemberton’s zoning official, to determine if the establishment met the legal criteria as set forth in the township cannabis ordinance around Dec. 23 of last year, and that the “township was not soliciting us in any way.”

“We were making inquiries through the Zoning Office, and the Clerk’s Office handles the application,” D’Agostino said. “We were just requesting information and verifying zoning.”

Marks, in responding to Ward’s initial question about “Why Pemberton Township?”, answered, “My interest in Pemberton is it is very close to where I live.”

“My second reason for it – or why I feel Pemberton is ideal – is, in my mind, we are trying to establish a relationship, and relationships are built on trust and mutual respect,” Marks continued. “So far, in going through this process with Pemberton, they have been nothing but welcoming, understanding and friendly to our cause and for me that is important.

“Last thing – as Greg has been touching on, we want to try to have a positive impact on the community at large. I know Pemberton in the past has struggled with warehouses and a lack of mom and pop stores. My intention is to own and operate this business by myself. I am not part of a large conglomerate. My intention is to personally own and operate the business. It is something that is important to me and would be both a benefit to me and to your community.”

But while Gardner declared he is “100 percent behind it,” and Detrick proclaimed that Alchemy Botanics is “to me presenting a legal business in the township that has a potential to at least generate a lot of tax dollars for us” and such facilities are “I generally find to be among the better looking businesses,” it appeared from the get-go that any “support” for the application is narrow at best among the council, with Dewey joining with Ward in announcing he would vote “no,” as well as the request getting no support from Tompkins, who declared, “I do not support cannabis,” with the current mayor also pointing out cannabis is “still a controlled substance on base and highly illegal for those individuals to use.”

“So, you are going to open a facility where a large portion of base personnel goes by it every

See CANNABIS/ Page 15