Edmund DeVeaux, president of the New Jersey CannaBusiness Association, said it’s about ensuring the market is implemented properly. He also said it would ensure that homegrown New Jersey companies will not be overlooked for larger established companies coming from out of state.
“I think the commission has taken deliberate steps to make sure that we get it right,” DeVeaux said. “There was no playbook. Everyone is doing this for the first time”
Precious Osagie-Erese, Chief Operating Officer of Roll Up Life, a Black-owned cannabis delivery startup in East Orange, echoed DeVeaux.
She said rushing to open regulated retail sales could hurt existing medical marijuana patients, whom she said could face supply chain issues if distribution and other logistical concerns are rushed.
Osagie-Erese also argued that giving the commission more time to establish regulations would ensure that social equity applications are processed fairly.
“I have not been a proponent of rushing to open an adult use market when the supply chain is not all the way there yet,” Osagie-Erese said.
“There isn’t a direct rush, because we don’t want this to be rolled out wrong, where it’s not sustainable,” she said.