Marijuana in Highland Park: Lawyers Have Doubts about New Suit

Local opponents of a new cannabis dispensary in Highland Park, New Jersey have filed a suit against the town seeking to stop cannabis sales. The suit claims that current ordinances allowing the dispensary go against a federal ban on the substance and is seeking a declaration that the authorization and establishment of the dispensary, which they consider to be marijuana “trafficking,” violates federal law, and is therefore illegal under state law. Ryan Magee spoke with the New Jersey Law Journal about the suit and said that it was just a matter of time before we would see this type of action. “I think that upholding the supremacy of marijuana scheduling under the Controlled Substances Act is a weak argument,” Ryan said. “And it gets weaker by the day, as a practical matter, where we have co-equal branches of government that are affirmatively, consistently and increasingly promoting cannabis programs at the state level.”