St. Peter’s University wants to stop a marijuana dispensary and lounge from opening up near a new residence hall.
The Jersey Journal reported that the university is arguing in a lawsuit that Jersey City Planning Board’s approval of the dispensary’s application violates a city code requiring a cannabis shop to be at least 200 feet away from a school. Saint Peter’s is arguing colleges and universities shouldn’t be excluded from that requirement.
The new dormitory is 65 feet from the front door of Medusa NJ, LLC dispensary, according to Jersey Digs, a real estate news site that also reported on the lawsuit.
The university is suing both the planning board and Medusa.
Individuals 21 years and older can legally buy marijuana in New Jersey without a prescription.
The university argues in the lawsuit that the planning board failed to consider the “negative impact” of the project. Representatives from St. Peter’s opposed the approval of the dispensary’s application earlier this year during a planning board hearing.
“SPU’s counsel explained the substantial negative impacts Medusa’s Cannabis Establishment and Consumption Lounge would have on SPU, both to SPU’s underage student population and the community as a whole,” university counsel wrote in the lawsuit.
University President Eugene Cornacchia has also voiced concerns about potential crowd control and security problems at the dispensary at a June hearing of the city’s Cannabis Control Board, according to the Hudson Reporter.
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