BRICK-The Brick Township Council Meeting held on June 11, 2019 highlights included recognizing the students of the month, Dystonia Awareness and a presentation by Brick United. One of the highlights of the meeting, however, was a man in a giant gong costume, playing guitar, singing a song in protest of Brick’s ongoing battle against a medical marijuana dispensary and the failure of the administration of Governor Phil Murphy to deliver on his promise to legalize marijuana in New Jersey.
Prior to entering the meeting, the man in the bong costume was screened successfully by the Brick Township Police Department.
After the song was done, Marianna Ponteriero, a councilwoman who said she is suffering from stage 4 throat cancer lashed out at the performance.
“I just want to say that it’s offensive to me as a stage 4 cancer victim who would qualify for the use of medical marijuana if I elected to partake in same” Ponteriero said. “I don’t want anyone out there watching this to believe they’re [the man in the giant bong costume and his sidekick] are cancer victims.”
Edward “Lefty” Grimes of Bayonne, a marijuana activist travels to town meetings across the state to advocate for the legalization of marijuana. Grimes said he lost his brother-in-law to opioid abuse just last week.”
“We had to tell his daughter that daddy’s not coming home,” Grimes said. “He didn’t have access to cannabis. “In Brick, you’re going to be giving out hundreds of doses of Narcan this summer…and there’s no cannabis in this town.”
“God has a special place in his heart for the sick, dying and disabled and Brick needs to be more like God,” he said. He then called the Brick Township council ignorant.
https://www.facebook.com/lefty.grimes/videos/2578220872210003/