Let’s get it back to weed.

This week, New Jersey governor Phil Murphy signed three bills that essentially legalized and decriminalized marijuana. Good win for the pot people out there.

Now, you can’t actually buy the cheebah in the Garden State, because they need to license new dispensaries. There are currently 13 places for medical marijuana, but they’re having trouble supplying enough ganja for registered patients as it is, so basically this is kind of like the Playstation 5 launch or the COVID vaccine. It’s out there, but good luck getting it.

However, that’s not what this story is about. We’re burying the lede.

Ocean City, which is an alcohol-free town, is LIVID with Murphy. Officials there are so angry that they’re gonna write a letter and leave a strongly-worded, one-star Google review, according to a writeup from Donald Wittkowski at OCNJDaily.com:

Ocean City elected officials Thursday night angrily denounced New Jersey’s legalization of recreational marijuana, calling some parts of the new pot laws nothing short of “insanity.”

“I can’t tell you how upset I am,” Mayor Jay Gillian said during comments at a City Council Zoom meeting.

Clearly livid, Gillian launched a broad attack against pot’s legalization and was joined by the seven-member governing body.

…

From the start, Ocean City’s Council has objected to marijuana’s legalization, passing an ordinance in 2019 to ban the sale of pot in a town that bills itself as “America’s Greatest Family Resort.”

“I’m 1,000 percent zero tolerance on this,” City Council President Bob Barr said Thursday of his opposition to legal pot smoking in public.

Alright, well, it’s just weed. It’s not that big of a deal. No 10-year-old kid is going to be forever corrupted because they saw some guy smoking a J outside the Surf Mall on a Friday night.

But I get the other side of it. Ocean City has always prided itself on being a family-friendly place. You take your kids there and don’t have to worry about the drunk asshole, staggering down the street. You don’t have to explain to your child why that man is laying on the sidewalk outside of Ocean Drive. It’s wholesome family fun!

So we’re keeping an eye on this story. Interested in how it concludes. Perhaps Ocean City can find a way to keep the demon plant out of their city while responsible adults enjoy marijuana in another setting. Maybe there’s a compromise to be had!