Township Council Votes To Support Medical Marijuana Facilities In Franklin

A resolution expressing support for medical marijuana facilities locating in certain sections of the township was unanimously approved Aug. 14 by the Township Council.

The resolution states that the council is supportive of medical marijuana facilities – cultivators, processors and distributors – being located in the township’s M-1 and M-2 zones, which are light industrial zones.

It would be up to the Planning Board to develop suggestions on how those facilities would be regulated in the zones.

The council took the unusual step of holding a special public comment period for the resolution, during which it heard mostly supportive comments for the resolution.

The comment session as led off by state Assemblyman Joe Danielsen (D-17) who told the crowd about the months of hearings and other research he conducted prior to creating a bill modifying current medical marijuana law.

Danielsen also spoke of young cancer patients he encountered while one of his teenage daughters was battling cancer. Some of the children could not go home for various reasons, he said, but medical cannabis may have helped them.

“If you’re on that child’s floor and you hear those cries and those screams, you would have no problem with cannabis,” he said. “If you had a relative or friend who could just not take that opiod anymore, you would have no problem with cannabis.”

Danielsen said that major investment groups are looking to invest in medical marijuana businesses, and are willing to spend millions of dollars.

“Some of these groups were going to bring in $30 million for one operation,” he said. “If they’re just a processor, it might be $10 million, or a dispensary, it might be $2 million.”

“You’re really deciding where the jobs are gong to be and where the tax dollar are going to go,” he said.

Mayor Phil Kramer said that he was “pretty neutral” on the subject of medical marijuana use “until my friend got brain cancer. I’m not as neutral on it.”

“If it is legal to have, then it is our obligation to not be an impediment to that,” he said.

The Franklin Reporter & Advocate live-streamed the discussion and vote on the resolution:

https://www.facebook.com/franklinreporter/videos/2150101508606434/

The FR&A also spoke with Danielsen and a township resident who is a medical marijuana patient.

https://www.facebook.com/franklinreporter/videos/585113168552305/

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