New Jersey is moving closer to opening its recreational marijuana market with plans slated for the first public meeting with the state’s new cannabis commission, Gov. Phil Murphy said Thursday.
The commission must establish regulations for the new recreational marijuana marketplace that voters ratified in an overwhelming vote in November. Murphy, a Democrat, said in February he thinks the market could be up and running in about six months.
Barker works as a policy staffer for U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, where he has focused on areas of criminal justice reform and marijuana legalization, as well as the economy and technology. He also who works with the National Action Network civil rights group founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton.
Serving A Greater Good
According to Jeff Brown, assistant commissioner, Medicinal Marijuana at the New Jersey Department of Health in Trenton, the legalization of recreational marijuana presents tremendous opportunities to the state on many fronts.
Gov. Phil Murphy will replace one member of the panel to regulate the new cannabis industry with a staffer in U.S. Sen. Cory Booker’s office after the makeup of the commission came under fire from the NAACP, NJ Advance Media has learned.
Charles Barker, who works for Booker in the senator’s Newark office, will replace another Murphy appointee, William Wallace of the United Food and Commercial Workers, according to an administration source.
Three sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly, told NJ Advance Media a switch on the five-member panel is imminent, but it’s not clear when the announcement will be made.
The NAACP blasted the makeup of the commission when Murphy announced its formation last month. It includes only one Black person, but no Black men. Police have disproportionately arrested Black men for marijuana use for decades.
Sources say the reason for the hold-up is because the governor’s office is grappling with a lawsuit threat from the NAACP, which claims Murphy violated the law that created the commission by failing to appoint one commissioner who is a member of a national social justice or civil rights group. Murphy faces additional criticism that no one on the commission is a Black man, given that the governor has framed legalization as a racial justice issue and Black men have historically been disproportionately arrested and charged for marijuana-related offenses.
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.
Diversity and Comprehensive Representation
While there is diversity on the commission, as it contains a Latinx man and woman, a white man and woman, and a Black woman, there is the missing component of a Black man, and this is noteworthy because of what Black men can bring to the cannabis conversation.
The glaring absence of a member of a social justice organization on New Jersey’s newly established Cannabis Regulatory Commission is a troubling oversight that should be remedied, Senator Mike Testa said today.
The commission is charged with determining who can legally grow and sell marijuana in New Jersey.
Known as the NJWeedman, Edward Forchion is upfront about his underground weed business. He opened a storefront on E State Street in Trenton where he sells everything from flowers, cannabis concentrates and edibles. With the state still months away from actually opening up its marijuana marketplace, NJWeedman's Joint is one of the only places defying the government's rollout.
"I say I'm like the people's champ right now...the Robinhood reefer," Forchion said.