2/6/2012 – A zoning hearing will be held before the Land-Use Board of Camden New Jersey on Monday February 6, 2012. These are normally rather dull meetings but on the agenda this week is a variance to allow one of the six state-approved medical marijuana Alternative Treatment Centers (ATCs). Several municipalities around the state have already turned down the facilities. This has left the Garden State medical cannabis law completely stalled as none of the ATCs can find a home.
But in Camden there are some new factors to the attempt that could yield a different outcome. Instead of one of the multi-million dollar ATCs seeking permission this time it is an individual going before the local zoning board. Frank Fulbrook has owned property in Camden since the 1960’s. He is also a local activist and a meticulous scholar. This writer interviewed Fulbrook in 2007 after he mapped all of the open-air drug markets in Camden – a rather large and risky task.
Fulbrook is considered an expert in the local planning code; he actually sat on Camden’s Land-Use Board for many years. Now Fulbrook has partnered up with a friend who owns a warehouse, they will seek the zoning approval on their own and then lease the space to one of the ATCs. Rather than coming in from outside the community asking to open such an innovative business Fulbrook and his partner are super-locals, which should give them a much better shot.
Even with all of these ducks in a row there are other factors. If you have never been to New Jersey you have still probably heard of Camden. The city sits across the Delaware River from Philadelphia and remains a sore spot in the state. Yes there are happy seals barking from the gleaming NJ Aquarium, a bustling Rutgers Campus and some strips of success. But recent budget cuts have escalated the violence and blight across 95% of the already impoverished community.
Governor Chris Christie and the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) have severely altered the plans for the cannabis program. Among the buffet of new restrictions was the elimination of the provisions that allowed for the home delivery of NJ’s medicinal cannabis. This means that patients or their designated caregiver must visit the ATCs in person. Although Camden is centrally located and has ample connections to public transportation, seriously ill NJ residents may not want to venture into the dangerous city for their legal marijuana.
Another interesting note is that half of the Camden police force was recently laid off. This has led to a sharp increase in the presence of federal agents – mainly in the Drug Enforcement Administration or DEA. If the ATC is approved in Camden there may be some friction between a warehouse growing marijuana for half of South Jersey’s patients and the DEA.
Still Fulbrook is hopeful for success, “This is a good place for one of these Alternative Treatment Centers. It’s the largest population concentration in South Jersey and all roads lead to Camden. It’s hub of highways and mass transit. But there are people right in Camden that have serious medical problems like HIV/AIDS …there are a lot of people right here who can benefit from marijuana as medicine. And this can create jobs.”
The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey (CMMNJ) is planning to have advocates at the hearing to testify.
Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. Questions? [email protected]