2019 New Jersey Revised Statutes
Title 24 - Food and Drugs
Section 24:6I-21 - Municipalities may authorize consumption areas.

24:6I-21 Municipalities may authorize consumption areas.

28. a. A municipality may authorize, through the enactment of an ordinance, the operation of locally endorsed medical cannabis consumption areas by medical cannabis dispensaries and clinical registrants within its jurisdiction, at which areas the on-premises consumption of medical cannabis may occur.

b. Applications for an endorsement pursuant to this section shall be made to the commission in a form and manner as shall be prescribed by the commission and shall set forth such information as the commission may require. Each application shall be verified by the oath or affirmation of such persons as the commission may prescribe. The endorsement shall be conditioned upon approval by a municipality. An applicant is prohibited from operating a cannabis consumption area without State and local approval. If the applicant does not receive approval from the municipality within one year after the date of State approval, the State endorsement shall expire and may not be renewed. If an application is denied by the municipality or the approval of the municipality is revoked, the commission shall revoke the State endorsement. Any person aggrieved by the local denial of an endorsement application may request a hearing in the Superior Court of the county in which the application was filed. The request for a hearing shall be filed within 30 days after the date the application was denied. The person shall serve a copy of the person's request for a hearing upon the appropriate officer for the municipality that denied the application. The hearing shall be held and a record made thereof within 30 days after the receipt of the application for a hearing. No formal pleading and no filing fee shall be required for the hearing.

c. (1) The commission shall deny a State endorsement if the premises on which the applicant proposes to conduct its business does not meet the requirements of P.L.2009, c.307 (C.24:6I-1 et al.) or for reasons set forth in this section. The commission may revoke or deny an endorsement renewal, or reinstatement, or an initial endorsement for good cause.

(2) For purposes of this subsection "good cause" means:

(a) the endorsed permit holder or applicant has violated, does not meet, or has failed to comply with, any of the terms, conditions, or provisions of this section, any rules promulgated pursuant to this section, or any supplemental local laws, rules, or regulations;

(b) the endorsed permit holder or applicant has failed to comply with any special terms or conditions that were placed on its endorsement by the commission or municipality; or

(c) the premises have been operated in a manner that adversely affects the public health or the safety of the immediate neighborhood in which the medical cannabis consumption area is located.

(3) Any commission decision made pursuant to this subsection shall be considered a final agency decision for the purposes of the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.) and may be subject to judicial review as provided in the Rules of Court.

d. A medical cannabis consumption area endorsement shall be valid for one year and may be renewed annually, subject to the approval of the commission and the municipality as set forth in this section. The commission shall establish by rule the amount of the application fee and renewal fee for the endorsement, which shall not exceed the administrative cost for processing and reviewing the application.

e. The commission shall maintain a list of all medical cannabis consumption areas in the State and shall make the list available on its Internet website.

f. A medical cannabis consumption area shall be located on the premises of a medical cannabis dispensary or clinical registrant, may be indoors or outdoors, and shall be designated by conspicuous signage.

(1) An indoor medical cannabis consumption area shall be a structurally enclosed area within a medical cannabis dispensary or clinical registrant facility that is separated by solid walls or windows from the area in which medical cannabis is dispensed and shall only be accessible through an interior door after first entering the facility.

(2) An outdoor medical cannabis consumption area shall be an exterior structure on the same premises as the medical cannabis dispensary or clinical registrant facility, that is either separate from or connected to the facility, and that is not required to be completely enclosed, but shall have sufficient walls, fences, or other barriers to prevent any view of patients consuming medical cannabis from any sidewalk or other pedestrian or non-motorist right-of-way, as the case may be, within the consumption area.

(3) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to authorize the consumption of medical cannabis by smoking in any indoor public place or workplace, as those terms are defined in subsection 3 of P.L.2005, c.383 (C.26:3D-57), and the medical cannabis dispensary or clinical registrant operating the consumption area shall ensure that any smoking of medical cannabis that occurs in an outdoor medical cannabis consumption area does not result in migration, seepage, or recirculation of smoke to any indoor public place or workplace. The commission may require a consumption area to include any ventilation features as the commission deems necessary and appropriate.

g. (1) A medical cannabis dispensary or clinical registrant holding a medical cannabis consumption area endorsement, and the employees of the dispensary or clinical registrant, subject to any regulations for medical cannabis consumption areas promulgated by the commission, may permit a person to bring medical cannabis into a medical cannabis consumption area.

(2) A medical cannabis dispensary or clinical registrant holding a medical cannabis consumption area endorsement shall not sell alcohol, including fermented malt beverages or malt, vinous, or spirituous liquor, sell tobacco or nicotine products, or allow the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, or nicotine products on premises, or operate as a retail food establishment.

(3) A medical cannabis dispensary or clinical registrant holding a medical cannabis consumption area endorsement shall not allow on-duty employees of the establishment to consume any medical cannabis in the consumption area.

h. Access to a medical cannabis consumption area shall be restricted to employees of the medical cannabis dispensary or clinical registrant and to registered qualified patients and their designated caregivers.

i. When a patient leaves a medical cannabis consumption area, the establishment shall ensure any remaining unconsumed medical cannabis that is not taken by the patient or the patient's designated caregiver is destroyed.

j. A medical cannabis consumption area and its employees:

(1) shall operate the establishment in a decent, orderly, and respectable manner;

(2) may remove an individual from the establishment for any reason;

(3) shall not knowingly permit any activity or acts of disorderly conduct; and

(4) shall not permit rowdiness, undue noise, or other disturbances or activity offensive to the average citizen or to the residents of the neighborhood in which the consumption area is located.

k. If an emergency requires law enforcement, firefighters, emergency medical services providers, or other public safety personnel to enter a medical cannabis consumption area, employees of the establishment shall prohibit on-site consumption of medical cannabis until such personnel have completed their investigation or services and have left the premises.

L.2019, c.153, s.28.