Several national cannabis companies have been lobbying in New Jersey since last year, as the state tried and failed to legalize adult-use cannabis. Instead, the state expanded its medical cannabis program, which has been in place for nearly a decade and saw meaningful growth only after Governor Phil Murphy took office in 2018. A majority of the companies lobbying hold medical cannabis licenses in the state, namely Curaleaf New Jersey, Green Thumb Industries, Columbia Care New Jersey, and TerrAscend NJ (formerly NETA NJ LLC), a subsidiary of Canadian cannabis company TerrAscend Corp.
Also on the list are companies that do not hold licenses in the state: Greenwich Biosciences, the U.S. subsidiary of GW Pharmaceuticals, PharmaCann LLC, which was in the process of being acquired by MedMen Enterprises till the latter killed the deal on Monday, and Acreage Holdings, which is being acquired by Canopy Growth. While Acreage Holdings does not have a license on its own, it partnered with Compassionate Care Foundation Inc.—a licensed operator in New Jersey—in 2018 to assist the latter with its future expansion and operations.