A new bill would allow medical cannabis dispensaries to begin selling recreational weed without municipal approval, a sign that state lawmakers are seeking to push back on some towns’ resistance to hosting dispensaries.

The legislation, sponsored by Senate President Nicholas Scutari, includes a number of other provisions aimed at the state’s cannabis industry, including one that would allow medical cannabis dispensaries to redesignate their product for recreational sales. But its aim to allow medical dispensaries to shift to the recreational market without municipal approval is the one that could raise the hackles of some local officials opposed to cannabis sales.

New Jersey’s recreational cannabis law allowed towns to opt in or out of sales by August 2021, and most of them opted out. Only about a third of New Jersey’s 564 municipalities allow cannabis businesses, and some of those towns limit sales to medical cannabis only. Five of New Jersey’s roughly 200 dispensaries sell only medical cannabis, according to the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission.

Joshua Bauchner, attorney and chair of the cannabis, hemp, and psychedelics practice group at Mandelbaum Barrett in Roseland, said the bill appears to be lawmakers’ response to struggles the cannabis industry in New Jersey has faced because of the municipal approval process.

“They’re trying to circumvent the home rule issue so that they don’t have to go back for municipal approval, because that’s been a real challenge and caused a lot of trouble, delays, and litigation,” said Bauchner.

Dispensaries were slow to open across the state — recreational weed sales began in April 2022 — in part because applicants need municipal approvals before launching. Lawmakers have blamed the state’s cannabis agency for acting too slowly to approve applications to sell and distribute weed.

The new measure would bar the cannabis commission from requiring municipal review for certain medical cannabis dispensaries that seek a retail license. This could help at least two medical dispensaries located in towns that bar the sales of recreational marijuana — Breakwater Treatment and Wellness in Cranbury and Rise Dispensary in Paramus — begin selling recreational weed without seeking municipal approval.

Scutari and the Cranbury and Paramus mayors did not respond to requests for comment. The dispensaries also did not return calls requesting comment.