Freehold Township, NJ Cannabis Regulations: Dispensary Zoning (2026)

New Jersey's cannabis law leaves municipalities free to permit or prohibit each class of adult-use license, and Freehold Township chose prohibition across the board. Section 190-117B(2) states plainly that all cannabis cultivators, cannabis delivery services, cannabis distributors, cannabis manufacturers, cannabis retailers, and cannabis wholesalers are prohibited from operating anywhere in the Township of Freehold. The single exception preserves consumer access without letting a business locate here: deliveries are allowed if made by a licensed cannabis delivery service that is based and initiates the delivery from a location outside the township.

The definitions in Section 190-117B(1) track the state's licensing categories closely, cultivator, delivery service, distributor, manufacturer, retailer and wholesaler, so the ban reaches every commercial tier of the adult-use market, not just retail storefronts. Medical cannabis is treated separately and far more narrowly: Section 190-149A(6), in the Hospital Zone H-1 article, permits a medical cannabis dispensary as defined under state law, with or without an indoor consumption area, provided any indoor consumption area complies with state law and no outdoor consumption area is allowed at all.

That means a medical dispensary has exactly one zoning district where it may locate, and only as a conditional use tied to the hospital campus context, while the recreational, adult-use side of the industry has no zoning district anywhere in the township where it is allowed to operate.