Most of the states that have taken longer than New Jersey to implement their legal markets were hampered by delays, and the states that launched sales quickly faced shortages and ceded much of their markets to multistate operators. Murphy and New Jersey’s regulators have said they want to avoid out-of-state operators taking over the market here.
The decision by the Cannabis Regulatory Commission last week to delay recreational marijuana sales at medical dispensaries is not sitting well with everyone. Senate President Nick Scutari, who sponsored both the medical and recreational cannabis laws, called the decision “totally unacceptable” and is planning to form a special legislative committee to review the delay.
At its March 24 meeting, CRC Executive Director Jeff Brown said there was about a 100,000-pound supply gap between what the state's medical marijuana operators have on hand and what would be necessary to satisfy the state's 120,000 registered medical marijuana patients, as well as the expected glut of new, recreational customers, including those driving over state lines from New York, Pennsylvania or Delaware.
New Jersey regulators last week declined to award retail cannabis licenses to eight medical dispensaries seeking to sell adult-use cannabis, delaying the expected launch of recreational pot sales in the state for at least weeks. The delay, which reportedly surprised cannabis industry insiders, came less than a month after New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said that recreational sales were expected to begin “within weeks.”
The commission said New Jersey is short by 100,000 pounds of weed to adequately supply both medical and recreational marijuana consumers, and called a special meeting for April 11 to review them again.
“These delays are totally unacceptable,” said Scutari, who sponsored both the medical and recreational cannabis laws. “We need to get the legal marijuana market up and running in New Jersey. This has become a failure to follow through on the public mandate and to meet the expectations for new businesses and consumers.”
It seems that New Jerseyans will have to wait a bit longer to purchase recreational cannabis, as the state regulator for the nascent industry rejected the applications from eight medical cannabis operators — dubbed Alternative Treatment Centers and all owned by MSOs — to launch adult-use sales.
Curaleaf Holdings’ founder and chairman Boris Jordan was one of many disappointed cannabis entrepreneurs who did not take the news well.
But the historic wave of license approvals also came with an unexpected launch-day delay. Thursday’s meeting agenda included a vote to approve eight active medical marijuana dispensaries, known as alternative treatment centers (ATCs), to expand service to all adults within 30 days. Those ATCs hoped to kick off the adult-use market as soon as late April.
Gov. Phil Murphy (D) responded to the news that the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) declined to approve existing dispensaries to start serving the adult-use market, as stakeholders had hoped would be announced at the body’s meeting on Thursday. CRC did, however, separately give conditional approval to 68 marijuana cultivators and manufacturers.
The CRC agreed the existing medical cannabis operators, known as alternative treatment centers, were not ready to expand into the recreational market. Among the concerns were access to cannabis for existing patients, supply issues, social equity and even labor agreements.
The wait to purchase recreational cannabis from a legal source in New Jersey continues. And if you’re currently high on weed you bought off the black — or “gray” — market, it’s going to seem even longer.
The Cannabis Regulatory Commission yesterday was expected to approve some of the medical dispensaries already opening to begin selling recreational weed to any adult who wants it in a month. But they didn’t do that. (They did schedule a special meeting for next month, so maybe they'll get around to it.)