The New Jersey CannaBusiness Association will collaborate with Stockton University to develop opportunities for students within the university’s cannabis studies program, the NJCBA announced Wednesday.
On top of educational, training, and research opportunities, the NJCBA will coordinate guest lectures and internship opportunities within the cannabis field.
Cannabis businesses are chomping at the bit in anticipation that New Jersey could be the next state to legalize recreational marijuana, an MJ trade association official said.
State lawmakers advanced a bill to the full Legislature for a vote, which could take place before year-end.
“A lot of people have been doing the groundwork, making relationships (and) forming teams since this last summer,” said Scott Rudder, president of the New Jersey CannaBusiness Association.
Nearly 60 percent of New Jersey adults support the legalization of marijuana, while nearly two-thirds of adults said they felt that a taxed and regulated industry would help the state, according to a Tuesday poll from Rutgers University Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling.
The poll, which surveyed 1,006 New Jersey adults between Oct. 12-19, found that 58 percent to 37 percent support legalizing marijuana for personal use. Thirty-seven percent did not support legalization.
Ken Wolski, Executive Director and Co-founder of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana-New Jersey, said that since Governor Phil Murphy issued Executive Order No. 6pdf at the start of 2018, fees for the medical marijuana program have been reduced, and an additional 10,000 people have signed up since the governor took office. An expansion of allowable medical conditions now includes chronic pain related to musculoskeletal disorders, migraine, anxiety, chronic pain of visceral origin, and Tourette's syndrome.
Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-3rd District, is marking Oct. 29 as the date he wants to hold a vote in both houses to legalize adult-use marijuana.
Sweeney, while speaking to a press gaggle following the Thursday senate session, said there are “just two issues” remaining with the bill, but declined to elaborate.
New Jersey CannaBusiness Association President Scott Rudder on Tuesday praised the state branch of Americans for Prosperity for the latter group’s backing of legalized marijuana.
Minninger’s view was in vogue among the panel members at NJBIZ’s Business of Cannabis event Tuesday at the Imperia in Somerset, moderated by New Jersey CannaBusiness Association President Scott Rudder.
“People don’t know what they don’t know. The perception is Cheech and Chong’s head shop. Folks here know that’s not true,” Minninger said. “There’s this perception that there will be a higher crime rate, vagrants coming in, people laying on the sidewalk stoned. To be able to come to an event like this where you have good folks in here — that changes the perception.”
The Garden State is about to get a little “greener” thanks to the hard work and dedication of scientists, researchers, law enforcement, patients, social justice advocates and business leaders. Legalization of recreational cannabis is right around the corner. But now that we have come this far, we must ensure that we do this right by creating an industry that helps the state economically, addresses social justice, and gives adults healthier choices other than opioids, alcohol and other far more dangerous substances.
Scott Rudder, president of the New Jersey CannaBusiness Association, said it’s easy to see why there’s so much interest.
“They (applicants) want to be in this densely populated market. They want to be positioned for the future adult-use program,” said Rudder, who believes recreational marijuana legislation will pass and be on the governor’s desk later this fall.
Gov. Phil Murphy’s election was the kind of catalyst the cannabis industry was waiting for. In the months since Murphy was sworn in, the industry has spread its wings, hosting symposia around the state and creating trade associations in anticipation of the day when weed would be legal. Seven months later, they’re still waiting.
“There’s very few industries in any sector, very few industries where you can actually start up and create an economic boom right away and cannabis will do that,” said Scott Rudder, president of the NJ Cannabusiness Association.