Today's late news that Toms River is planning to be the next NJ muncipality in line to ban Cannabis businesses in the town told me that it's time to dig deeper into exactly how the Town Opt Out provision of the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act (NJCREAMMA) will serve to limit the amount of people able to enter the regulated or legal Cannabis industry via the Micro License Provision. Lets just say for now the area holds a special place in my heart.
To undertand how this will play out in real time you need to be aware of some facts from the law that has been passed and signed by your boy murph dawg:
- for the first 18 or 24 months only 37 total cannabis cultivators will be allowed in the state
- however this does not apply to the microbusiness applicants
So this should be a good thing on paper right? It opens things up for the little guys and will alow them to enter the market quicker won't it? well I would but..
Let's talk numbers .. the number of NJ cultivation operations that will be allowed in the first two years
- existing NJMMP approved operations that aim to become approved to enter the adult-use market first (12)
- prospective NJMMP operations whom have been waiting since the 2019 RFA and up til months ago those applications had been mired in court (25)
Of the existing operators all 12 have at least one cultivation location and many have already moved onto expanding into another. Almost the same for retail but a few have lagged behind there I think potentially 2 (MPX NJ and Justice Grown) are approved cultivation but no retail location yet to open but the point here is these 12 have the largest advantage in the NJ adult use market as they are all likely to be approved to enter adult use market within 6-12 mos imo obvs.
Now we're onto the 25 prospectives. Of note for our discussion here is 7 cultivation licenses are available in this round licenses that could be released literally in days weeks or months but these 7 will also count so math time
37 -12 - 7 = 18
From the original 37 we really have only about half of those that are actually up for grabs. As with all the original NJMMP cannabis cultivation licenses these will be some the most sought after by MSOs (multi state operators) and therefore realistically out of reach for most indiviuals.
To most individuals that are looking to enter the NJ cannabis market who are not wealthy or very successful in their prior careers they are likely considering the mirobusiness provisions of the new law. There's a few limits on the micro businesses as far as a maximium number of employees (10) and limiting the size of the business to 2500 sq ft. These limits among others are written into the law but there's another one here that's of interest at the moment:
at least 51 percent of the owners, directors, officers, or employees of the microbusiness shall be residents of the municipality in which the microbusiness is located, or to be located, or a municipality bordering the municipality in which the microbusiness is located, or to be located;
source - https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2020/Bills/S0500/21_R2.HTM
Did you catch that? they slip this stuff in quick so you gotta stay on the ready pham.
basically more than half of the OWNERS need to live in the town (or the municipality bordering the municipality) where you may wish to establish you cannabis business. Now let's look specifically at Toms River..
Do you know how many people live there? the numbers I used when I built this site based on the 2010 census I believe.. just over 93k
Now let's talk about some other nearby town councils / mayors who have that ban hammer ready
Lakewood - 102682
Brick - 75516
Jackson - 57073
Berkeley Township - 41747
Lavallette - 1849
Point Pleasant Beach - 4544
Seaside Heights - 2903
Surf City - 1187
Some more quick math there.. and we're quickly at over 380,000 people in Ocean county towns that are having town gov't decide for them whether or not they can participate in the legal adult use cannabis industry.
here's a short scene how I imagine the give and take sausage making process of law making looks like
lawmaker: I don't understand cannabis but I hear it's popular why don't you industry and activist guys make a law for us
industry: cap the cultivation for the first few years to help us get established
activist: ok but give us homegrow and more microbiz
industry: homegrow nah bro.. but we'll open up to all microbiz you want no caps there
industry2: dude why are you giving that away
activist: well that seems like great way for more social equity to reach the local communities we are still going to fight for homegrow ok it's not the best but it's a start see ya industry guy and guy2
[activist leaves]
industry2: dude you gave away uncapped micro
industry: don't worry all the towns will ban it before they ever get a chance to apply <snickers>
awe that was cute but fake cause you know activist guy never gets to the backroom in Trenton
thank you for attending my head talk
