Scott Rudder, president of the New Jersey Cannabusiness Association is also expecting the list of qualifying conditions for medicinal cannabis use to expand. Rudders believe lawmakers are looking to finalize new cannabis regulations soon because the state budget must be approved by the end of June. Lawmakers are already counting on approximately $80 million in tax revenues for the next fiscal year which starts on July 1.
Although a robust market is eventually expected, Rudder feels that legal cannabis will have a slow start in New Jersey.
“You go outside the cannabis space and start talking to people at soccer fields, police chiefs, they’re struggling with this. It may be a slow rollout,” Rudder said at the Cannabis World Congress and Business Exposition, “We’re still trying to convince people that it’s OK. It’s going to be a long conversation.”
California and Nevada also had bumpy rollouts of their recreational cannabis programs. Nevada has recovered and is exceeding initial predictions in terms of sales and tax revenues generated by legal cannabis sales.
The bill submitted by state Sen. Nicholas Scutari calls for a 7 percent sales tax on cannabis products. The tax would rise to 25 percent after the programs first five years. Governor Murphy, who made cannabis legalization a major focus of his campaign, wanted the initial sales tax to be 25 percent. But lawmakers feel this could push customers to the black market. Analysts believe that high tax rates have done just that in California.