Cannabis cultivation & farmland preservation

[anon-sos1]

I have heard many people opposed to marijuana tell me that cannabis can be grown on preserved farmland, which is apparently true (NJLM). It is also true that in the United States, cannabis is often grown indoors. But I'm just not buying the argument that recreational cannabis cultivation presents a unique threat to Cranbury's preserved farmland.

Here's why:

1.) If you construct a building on preserved farmland to cultivate cannabis, it stands to reason that you could also build on preserved farmland to cultivate any other crop that might grow well indoors. Granted, it is more likely that a cannabis grower would choose this option compared to other crop growers, but the township would not actually be eliminating this potential problem by prohibiting cannabis cultivation. In fact, Jay Taylor freely admitted in his Cranbury Press opinion piece that "Presently, we have a 40,000-square-foot facility being erected on preserved farmland on the other side of Route 130." Assuming that assertion to be true, if this is already happening even without the township allowing recreational cannabis cultivation, how could prohibiting recreational cannabis cultivation possibly keep it from happening in the future?

2.) I don't imagine any of the owners of the preserved farmland in town selling their land to any business that plans to erect building that would make it difficult to return to farming the soil, so this argument seem like a real misdirect to me. Chime in if I am off base here.

3.) People can and do grow cannabis outside in the earth's soil. You don't actually need to grow it inside.

4.) Putting all this aside, doesn't the township have other land use regulation tools at its disposal that can be used to prevent building construction on preserved farmland? I would think that it does, but I don't really know. I seem to recall that municipalities can restrict cannabis operations to certain zones.

One further thing: Where is the facility that Jay Taylor referenced in his opinion piece being built?

[anon-437o]

The Kurek family sold their preserved farm to the company who is building the marijuana growth facility. That has been stated at meetings. The reason it is allowed is because the town today has no law prohibiting marijuana cultivation on farmland or in any zone. My guess is the TC never thought someone would want to build a large warehouse type structure on preserved land (as you yourself just highlighted. Both you and the TCs were wrong). Not all preserved land is owned by local farmers. None of the other TC members at the meetings have said he is wrong about the building going up. If he were making it up as you seem to indicate is your view then the other members would have chimed in as would the construction office or administrator. Plus with the millions to be made no grower is going to grow the crop outside and have it stolen nor would the law permit it.

[anon-sos1]

I absolutely did not accuse Jay Taylor of fabricating information. I not only assumed it to be true, I relied on it to support my own argument. In my defense, his opinion piece was (in my opinion) poorly supported and looking back I probably used the "[a]ssuming that assertion to be true" language out of frustration at the lack of specificity in his writing about "preserved farmland on the other side of Route 130." Additionally, this assuming-this-is-true type of language is pretty common in logical reasoning.

With regard to the rest of your response, you haven't convinced me that the argument that recreational cannabis cultivation would be a unique threat to preserved farmland is one that should be taken seriously. I don't see who prohibiting recreational cannabis cultivation would stop another Kurek farm situation from occurring, since medical cannabis and other crops can also be grown indoors. I don't see why the township can't relegate recreational cannabis cultivation to certain zones in the future. I will concede that farm owners may sell to indoor farmers like the Kureks did, invalidating the second argument from my original post. But, to be blunt, you are simply incorrect in asserting that "no grower" would grow outdoor. It happens all over.

[anon-6ssp]

What if there is a cannabis farm and it catches fire somehow?
Are we gonna be like okay man?
Should I stock up on Doritos?

[So much smoke!-79q2]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8KSKSYRzs8

[RbtRgus]

(Copied from my post in another topic — this seems maybe a better place to post this):

Cannabis is about as dangerous as beer. If you oppose cannabis sales in town, wouldn’t you want to also oppose liquor sales? Alcohol is a gateway drug, too — it’s all about intentionally altering your state of consciousness.

The thing about tax revenue from cannabis sales being low (and that being a problem) sounds strange. Wouldn’t a successful cannabis retailer provide the town the same advantages as any other successful business being here? Flowers? Pizza?