Ed Forchion, better known as “NJ Weedman,” has proudly flouted cannabis prohibition for years. By his own count, he has between 1,100 and 1,200 days of incarceration to show for it.
But now, he may be ready to go legit.
After spending the last couple of years arguing that New Jersey’s plans to legalize cannabis for recreational use appeared geared toward wealthy, white corporate interests, Forchion has found hope in the Cannabis Regulatory Commission’s recently-released rules, which may give him an opportunity to turn his black market dispensary into a legal state-regulated business.
“I’m going to try to get legal,” the 57-year-old Forchion said in a phone interview. “I’m getting older. I don’t want to go to jail or anything like that.”
Even before New Jersey voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2020 to legalize recreational cannabis, Forchion was openly selling the drug from “NJ Weedman’s Joint,” a storefront opposite Trenton’s City Hall and across a highway overpass from the city’s federal courthouse.