The new legal industry
Possession of six ounces or less of marijuana — and using it on private property — is now decriminalized in New Jersey for people ages 21 and up. That means you can’t be criminally charged for it.
So far though, it still isn’t technically legal to buy or sell recreational marijuana, and won’t be until state officials write regulations and award licenses to the businesses that will make up the new legal market.
Residents probably won’t be able to walk into a recreational marijuana dispensary and buy cannabis until 2022, according to Dianna Houenou, incoming chair of the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission.
But she added that current medical marijuana operators, which already have the retail infrastructure in place, might be able to begin recreational sales earlier, so long as they can meet the demands of their patients first.
“The law does provide those medicinal operators a pathway to serving the broader adult-use recreational community,” Houenou said.