TOMS RIVER, NJ – Over fifty illegal marijuana operators are standing by and ready to deliver illegal weed to your doorstep, even to town hall, according to Daniel Kessell, a Toms River resident advocating for legal marijuana dispensaries in town.
Kessell should know. In 2022, he was indicted by a grand jury in Ocean County for running a drug production facility out of a home in Holiday City.
Berkeley Police raided the home and seized seven pounds of weed, two pounds of THC and everything needed for the packaging and sale of marijuana products.
Kessell stood before the town council and pleaded with them to allow the sale of legal weed, criticizing the council for not allowing the sale of cannabis in Toms River.
“I can make a call right now to one of 50 legacy or unlicensed operators right here in Toms River and get any cannabis product I wanted to be delivered right here to the town hall,” Kessell said. “And only a handful would bother to check for an ID to check if I’m 21.”
Kessell said he plans to open a legal dispensary in Toms River and said the town could see revenue from his shop as much as $2,000,000 annually but did not say exactly how much weed needed to be sold for that amount of revenue.
Today, Shore News Network contacted the Toms River Police Department to see if they could corroborate Kessell’s claims of rampant illegal marijuana dealers operating in the town.
“I will look into it and get back to you when I have more information,” responded police department spokeswoman Jillian Messina.
Both the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office and Mayor Mo Hill did not immediately respond for comment.
Kessell is also an elected member of the Toms River Democrat Committee. Ben Giovine, a Democrat running for mayor in Toms River, agrees with Kessell. Last week, Giovine called for marijuana shops to fill vacant storefronts across Toms River.
“Whether you like it or not, cannabis is here in town,” he said. “It’s not going anywhere. There isn’t a magic dome covering out town that is deflecting people from coming into town with cannabis.”