Atlantic City cracking down on marijuana, cigarette smoking on boardwalk

The opening of more cannabis dispensaries in Atlantic City has come with growing complaints about the smell of smoke, especially on the boardwalk.

If you have strolled on the iconic boardwalk in the past couple of years, there’s a good chance you have caught a whiff.

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“Drastically increase on marijuana smell and cigarette smoking. Seems to be more open as time goes on,” said Xavier Colon of Marshfield, Massachusetts.

Atlantic City has the most cannabis dispensaries in New Jersey, but smoking on the famous Wooden Way is illegal.

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Amer Kashmiri, president of the Atlantic City Merchants Association, has heard the complaints.

“They say like, everybody smoking on the boardwalk, and like, you know, nobody stopped them,” said Kashmiri.

“We are listening to and hearing the concerns of the residents and the visitors in terms of the smoking, they don’t want to see it, they don’t want to smell it. So we’re going to address it,” said Captain Kevin Fair of the Atlantic City Police Department.

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This year, Atlantic City police are stepping up their enforcement of local no-smoking laws. A $3,000,000 grant from the New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority will put more cops on the boards to help combat the issue.

“This is the warning right now,” Fair said.

Authorities say officers patrolling the boards and those in the city’s surveillance center will be looking for smokers. Violators could face fines.

You’ll find signs along the boardwalk, but apparently there are not enough of them, and so the city is making a lot more signs to put up in many more places.

“We mean business. We’ll crack down on it and we’ll get it right,” said Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small.