Catholic nuns in Atlantic City, New Jersey, have lost their attempt to block a cannabis dispensary just 150 feet from their convent, as local officials seek to turn the area into the marijuana capital of the East Coast.
The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, which serves as the city’s planning agency within the resort district, recently approved two planned dispensaries, including the one at the convent, a business that would replace a former dry cleaners.
Members of the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal Convent on Mississippi Avenue in the gambling mecca had argued that they host classes (including some for teens) and sobriety meetings at their location and therefore should not have a dispensary. so close.
They added to the CRDA that they were also concerned that crime would increase in the area as a result of a new dispensary.
“I’m actually Dutch, so I grew up in a country where marijuana was legalized and I’ve seen a lot of things over the years,” Sister Joseph Van Munster said at a hearing in November, according to a transcript obtained by the Press. Atlantic City.
He said there were already problems in the neighborhood with illicit drug and alcohol use and argued that a new dispensary could be detrimental to those facing substance abuse issues and working toward recovery.
The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority has approved an application for a new cannabis dispensary just 150 feet from a convent in Atlantic City, New Jersey. google maps
But the CRDA approved the application for the proposed new dispensary near the convent. New Jersey law does not prohibit cannabis dispensaries from opening near such sites, as it does with schools.
Neither the convent nor the CRDA responded to The Post’s requests for comment on Monday.
The approval of the marijuana dispensary near the convent was the second time the board approved such a business in Atlantic City despite concerns from church officials, according to news reports.
Over the summer, members of Chelsea Baptist Church spoke out against a cannabis business plan a block away, but that also ended up being approved by the board.
“They don’t want them near the casinos, but they don’t care where they go,” Pastor Tom Weer told reporters in September.
He claimed the board simply told church members to install video cameras or hire a towing company to keep unwanted vehicles out of their parking lot when they raised concerns about people smoking marijuana near their place of worship. or committed crimes.
Members of the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal expressed concern about escalating crime in the area as a result of the new dispensary, which would take over a former laundry.
“It seemed to me that everyone at the meeting was enthusiastic,” Weer said of the measure’s supporters on the board. “As far as we know, if it’s there, we just have to ride it out.”
The CRDA rarely disapproves applications for new cannabis businesses in Atlantic City, which has already approved applications for indoor marijuana farms, a woman-owned dispensary inside a former church and Amsterdam-style cannabis lounges.
Mayor Marty Small Sr.’s administration sees these new businesses as a powerful economic engine, potentially bringing new jobs and new investment to the city.
“My goal is to make Atlantic City great, to make Atlantic City the cannabis hub of the East Coast,” Kashawn “Kash” McKinley, the city’s cannabis czar, told Delaware Online.
Per capita, the cannabis businesses that had already received approval in April would make Atlantic City the densest cannabis city in the state, according to the outlet.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn