Blue Violets dispensary in Hoboken celebrates court win: ‘This feels like justice to us’

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The Blue Violets cannabis dispensary in Hoboken is celebrating the court victory that will allow them to keep operating at 628 Washington St., with one co-owner stating “This feels like justice to us” in an exclusive interview.

Blue Violets dispensary
Instagram photo.

By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View

Hoboken for Responsible Cannabis, Inc., a group led by former 5th Ward council candidate Liz Urtecho, sued Blue Violets for being too close to a school in violation of a location ordinance, which ultimately got their planning board approval vacated in September.

Blue Violets decided to take their case to the Superior Court for New Jersey Appellate Division and the December 30th decision was largely in their favor.

“The record establishes that the CRB [cannabis review board] reviewed Blue Violets’s application and deemed it complete as of February 2022, which triggered the TOA [time of application] Rule,” the appellate court ruled.

“The Ordinance did not go into effect until approximately two months later, on April 28, 2022. Therefore, the Planning Board correctly determined that Blue Violets’s application was not subject to the Ordinance. Thus, we hold the trial court erred in vacating the Resolution, warranting reversal.”

Expectedly, Jonathan Goodelman, counsel for Blue Violets, applauded the outcome after roughly 26 months of litigation.

“It sets a lot of precedent for cannabis and land use in general,” he told HCV.

Blue Violets co-owner Max Thompson also expressed relief over the recent court outcome.

“It feels incredibly relieving. We are a lot less stressed as a result. We’ve been running the business since April. That we have a future here feels really good: We feel a million pounds lighter, at minimum,” declared Blue Violets co-owner Max Thompson declared.

“This feels like justice to us. We did everything Hoboken told us to do in the exact order they told us to do it … It was a whole question mark about our future,” Max said.

He also noted their efforts to change the ordinance were not successful as the majority of the city council would not consider it.

“It feels like we have a future now … The community really had our back here. It definitely helped us continue pushing. I think it made a big difference,” Thompson added.

Thompson said they want to start delivery by the end of the month and hold more community events in the city.

“It’s an exciting industry. We’ll see what 2025 brings. It’s starting off right for sure,” he said.

He acknowledged that the responsible cannabis group can petition the state Supreme Court to hear their case, but he is not particularly worried since they hear a limited number of cases and he feels the law is distinctly on their side here.

Urtecho did not return a call or voicemail seeking comment on the appellate division reversing the lower court’s ruling.

“I’m hopeful she’s ready to put this behind her and stop wasting money and let us continue operating our business safely and soundly,” Thompson added.

Other dispensaries in Hoboken that are fully open and operational include the Station and Village Hoboken.

5th Ward Councilman Phil Cohen, who defeated Urtecho in November 2023, congratulated Blue Violets in a post on X last week.

“Congratulations to Blue Violets and its owners Max and Lauren on their hard-fought victory from the New Jersey Appellate Division reversing the trial court’s order and allowing Blue Violets to continue lawfully operating its dispensary at 628 Washington Street.”


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5 COMMENTS

  1. This is another great victory for Ravi. For Hoboken, it’s a disaster as weed is far stronger than it was decades back and the harms are serious and dangerous especially for youth. Ravi wins! It’s kickback city. Ka-ching!

  2. It will be interesting to see how much tax revenue these dispensaries generate for our City…..and how much money the operators contribute to the campaigns of people like Jabbour, Quintero et al.

  3. THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!!!

    Bunch of nonsense. There’s a store DIRECTLY across Washington St from the school that sells all forms of vapes, THC-infused crap, and Delta-whatever that’s made God-knows-where (probably a meth lab in Mexico or China) and is A LOT less safe than legal pot. Oh, and that place is next door to a liquor store and a Dunkin’, both of which are probably less healthy than an occasional toke.

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