Cannabis giant Curaleaf CURLF is suspected of using its political connections to reverse an April decision by the NJ Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) to deny its request for a license renewal to cultivate and sell marijuana.
What happened: The CRC denied the state's largest cannabis supplier’s request to renew an adult-use license, citing several reasons including Curaleaf's closure of a growing facility, lack of transparency and conflicts with unionization.
The state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission Thursday revoked licenses to grow or manufacture adult-use cannabis by the Harmony company, saying the company owes $700,00 in license fees.
After New Jersey’s largest weed supplier, Curaleaf, was banned by state regulators from selling recreational cannabis in April, the company enlisted a former New Jersey attorney general to fight the order.
Chris Porrino, a state attorney general under Gov. Chris Christie’s administration, immediately appealed the decision in the company’s bid to keep its ability to sell recreational cannabis.
Hours after the stunning April 13 vote – which would have prohibited Curaleaf from selling adult-use cannabis at two of its three storefronts and impacted operations at both of its South Jersey cultivation facilities – the company raised concerns about the decision, requesting a stay to allow time for judicial review.
In the aftermath of the decision by the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) to rescind its previous vote denying the renewal of adult-use licenses to the industry’s largest MSO – an about-face one could see coming a mile away – Curaleaf CEO Matt Darin and Chairman Boris Johnson issued a public proclamation declaring a decisive victory over a vanquished enemy, as if they had just stormed the beach at Normandy. Even in victory, however, their celebratory comments could barely contain the contempt they still have for the CRC.
UPDATE! By the time protestors (and yours truly) got home from Trenton, NJ’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission flip-flopped on their shocking rejection of NJ’s largest Cannabis company’s annual license. Curaleaf basically gets off with a slap on the wrist. Some are calling CRC’s reversal “extraordinary and courageous” while others criticize NJ regulators for making this up on the fly. Curalead’s reprieve is provisional and contingent on promptly striking a better deal with their workers and medical patients. Sophie Nieto-Moñoz rounds up today’s whiplash at New Jersey Monitor.
Curaleaf can continue selling recreational cannabis at all of its New Jersey locations after the state’s cannabis regulators reversed a decision they made Thursday that would have sharply limited where the company can sell weed.
In a stunning move, New Jersey regulators on Thursday stripped away the right to sell legal weed to recreational customers from one of the world's largest cannabis companies.
Curaleaf, with nearly 150 dispensaries in the United States, will be required to halt all recreational marijuana sales at its Bellmawr and Edgewater Park dispensaries as of April 21 after the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission voted to deny a renewal of its annual license, with two "no" votes, two abstentions and just one "yes" vote.
Cannabis regulators on Thursday denied Curaleaf, the biggest player in New Jersey’s nascent cannabis industry, a renewal of the license that allows it to grow and sell recreational marijuana in the Garden State.
The vote represents a surprising blow to the cannabis giant, and comes just about a week before the first anniversary of recreational weed sales in the state. It left observers stunned, and a representative of Curaleaf seeking help from the attorney general and wondering aloud about legal action.