Catholic nuns in Atlantic City, NJ, have failed in their efforts to block a marijuana dispensary just 150 feet from their convent, as local officials seek to turn the area into the pot capital of the East Coast.
The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, which acts as the city’s planning agency in the tourist district, recently approved two planned dispensaries, including one by the monastery, a business that would replace a former dry cleaner.
Members of the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal Convent on Mississippi Avenue in the gambling mecca have argued that they host classes – including some for teenagers – and sobriety meetings at their location and therefore should not have a dispensary so close.
They added to the CRDA that they are concerned about the increased crime in the area as a result of the new dispensary as well.
“I’m actually Dutch, so I grew up in a country where marijuana is legalized, and I’ve seen a lot over the years,” Sister Joseph Van Munster said at the November hearing, according to a transcript obtained by the Atlantic City Press.
He said there are already problems in the neighborhood with illicit drug and alcohol use and argued that the new dispensary could harm those dealing with substance abuse issues and working toward recovery.
The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority has approved an application for a new marijuana dispensary just 150 feet from a convent in Atlantic City, NJ. Google Maps
But the CRDA approved the application for a proposed new dispensary near the monastery. New Jersey law does not prohibit marijuana dispensaries from opening near such sites as it does with schools.
Neither the monastery nor the CRDA responded to the Post’s request for comment on Monday.
The approval of a pot dispensary near the convent is the second time the board has approved such a business in Atlantic City despite concerns from church officials, according to the Press.
Over the summer, members of Chelsea Baptist Church spoke out against a planned marijuana business about a block away — but that, too, was ultimately approved by the board.
“They don’t want them anywhere near casinos, but they don’t care where else they go,” Pastor Tom Weer told the Press in September.
He claims the board only tells church members to install video cameras or hire tow truck companies to keep unwanted vehicles away from their premises when they express concerns about people smoking weed near their places of worship or committing crimes.
Members of the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal expressed concern about increased crime in the area as a result of the new dispensary, which will take over the old laundromat.
“It seemed to me at the meeting they were all gung ho,” Weer said of the transfer board’s supporters. “As far as we know, if it’s there, we’ll just have to be patient with it.”
The CRDA rarely disapproves applications for new marijuana businesses in Atlantic City, which has already approved applications for an indoor weed farm, a woman-owned dispensary inside a former church and an Amsterdam-style weed lounge.
Mayor Marty Small Sr.’s administration. sees these new businesses as powerful economic engines, potentially bringing new jobs and new investment to the city.
“My focus is to make Atlantic City great, to make Atlantic City the hub on the East Coast for marijuana,” Kashawn “Kash” McKinley, the city’s marijuana czar, told Delaware Online.
Per capita, the marijuana businesses that have been approved as of April would make Atlantic City the most populous marijuana city in the state, according to the outlet.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
