Pubdate: Fri, 10 Feb 2012
Source: Courier-Post (Cherry Hill, NJ)
Copyright: 2012 Courier-Post
Contact:  http://www.courierpostonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/826
Author: Jim Walsh, Courier-Post Staff

GROUP DROPS FIGHT FOR MARIJUANA SITE IN WESTAMPTON

MOUNT HOLLY - A medical-marijuana supplier is dropping its legal fight 
to run a facility in Westampton.

Compassionate Care Foundation Inc. instead plans to grow and sell 
medical marijuana from a site in Egg Harbor Township, an attorney for 
the firm said Friday. The nonprofit will drop a lawsuit it had filed 
over a proposed site in Westampton, said the lawyer, Steven D. Weinstein.

The Egg Harbor Township facility, expected to open in Atlantic County 
later this year, would be South Jersey's first outlet for medical 
marijuana. A second state-approved supplier for the region, 
Compassionate Sciences ATC, has yet to find a home.

The planned facility in Egg Harbor Township is to occupy a vacant 
warehouse off Delilah Road near the Garden State Parkway, according to 
an account at the organization's website.

New Jersey legalized medical marijuana more than two years ago, in 
January 2010. But Gov. Chris Christie, citing concerns over federal 
laws against the drug, did not give his approval until July of last year.

The six approved suppliers, including two in South Jersey, have 
struggled to open facilities.

So far, no marijuana has been sold legally in New Jersey, and at least 
four towns have turned away the businesses.

Compassionate Care sued in Superior Court here after Westampton's Land 
Development Board rejected its proposed facility in a warehouse on 
Hancock Lane. Board members, who voted 4-3 against the plan, said a 
medical-marijuana outlet was not an "intended use" when a local zoning 
measure was enacted.

Compassionate Care, which is based in Mount Laurel, argued medical 
marijuana should be allowed at the site as an agricultural crop.

Compassionate Sciences was rebuffed in October when it sought to sell 
medical marijuana from a former furniture store on Route 73. 
Compassionate Care at one point had a tentative lease for a site in 
Bellmawr, but it broke off that agreement due to the state's delay in 
implementing the medical marijuana law.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.