If and when marijuana becomes legal in New Jersey - and we’ll probably find out a lot more about that this week - there will be some twisted poetry in the law. Basically, people who are currently in the illegal marijuana business will have pretty much zero shot at being allowed into the legal marijuana business.
To get a license to sell weed in New Jersey, you’ll have to have a spotless criminal record, a spotless financial record, and a few million as a bankroll. This precludes a lot of people, obviously. And at least one person is none to happy about it. I’ll give you one guess.
“There’s a black market thriving right now and the only thing holding us back from putting our names on buildings is the law,” said Ed Forchion, otherwise known as the NJWeedman. “And they’re writing the law to exclude all of us. I see all these people lined up, these ganjapreneurs, or whatever they call themselves. I call them the ‘cannibaggers,’ the rich corporations, all these people lining up to start this ‘new’ industry. Which is kind of like the Columbusization of the current marijuana industry. We’re here, just like the Native Americans were here. Christopher Columbus comes over and claims he found it and ran with it. Listen. The black market is here. These guys are coming in, the politicians and everyone, and trying to create this new industry when it’s already here.”