Middle Still Supports Medical Marijuana Facility

COURT HOUSE – During a March 15 Middle Township Committee meeting, Mayor Timothy Donohue provided a brief update on the proposed medical marijuana facility, at the site of the abandoned La Monica plant, on Indian Trail Road.
In 2019, the municipality passed a resolution supporting the application from INSA, a Massachusetts company, to obtain a license for an integrated marijuana facility that would grow, manufacture and dispense marijuana at an authorized medical dispensary. 
The company presented plans to the governing body, showing the potential of the facility to add 100 quality jobs to the municipality.
The 2019 resolution delineated its support for the medical dispensary, while limiting the company’s ability to morph the business to the sale of recreational marijuana, should the state legalize such recreational use, which it did Feb. 22, 2021.
During that time, litigation over state licensing procedures slowed the process of expanding medical marijuana facilities, leaving INSA’s application in temporary limbo.
Donohue said the logjam broke, and decisions on medical marijuana facilities may be made soon. INSA is confident they will be awarded a license, Donohue said. 
He also said the municipality welcomes such a facility. Company executives told the municipality they intend to keep the facility medical marijuana only, but they may expand the growing and manufacturing components at the site to supply recreational marijuana retail locations elsewhere.
If so, the number of jobs at the location would probably double to 200, Donohue said. He also reminded the public that the municipalitycould attach a local tax to the marijuana grown there, even if it were sent to other locations for retail sales. 
Donohue said INSA expects to know about the decision on their application in about 60 days.