Charles Barker

The motion to change the June decision passed 3-1, with Commissioner Charles Barker voting no. Barker, often the lone ‘no’ vote, defended the initial one-year timeline as a move that would have helped people most harmed by marijuana prohibition. He emphasized that New Jersey’s marijuana legalization law is “about righting the wrongs of the failed drug war, period, hard stop.”

Chairwoman Dianne Houenou argued Black and brown business owners would have been shut out if the commission retained the one-year priority period.

The agency overseeing New Jersey’s marijuana market made a move Thursday that aims to increase the number of cannabis businesses run by people with prior convictions for marijuana offenses or who live in economically disadvantaged parts of the state.

For one year starting Sept. 27, the Cannabis Regulatory Commission will accept requests for certain licenses — wholesaler, distributor, and delivery service class licenses — only from so-called social equity applicants, the commission decided at its Thursday meeting.

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.

Economic And Social Justice Are Also Issues

As embodied in state law and underlined by the CRC, when cannabis sales became legal in the Garden State, it was time to fulfill the promise of helping those disproportionately harmed by the War on Drugs, decriminalizing cannabis, eliminating registrations and implementing economic justice.

According to CRC Commissioner Charles Barker, who recently spoke directly to the cannabis companies at a monthly meeting, the state is not upholding its commitments to patient access, social equity and collective bargaining agreements.

On any other day, the state's fledgling cannabis industry would be celebrating.

The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission on Thursday unanimously awarded the first 68 conditional licenses to adult use cannabis cultivators and manufacturers. The licenses, which include 50 cultivators and 18 manufacturers, were heralded by commissioners as a historic moment in the state's history.

The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (NJ-CRC) will be hosting three virtual meetings to listen to public suggestions for how funds raised from cannabis fees and fines should be used for social equity projects. Input collected at the meetings and in written submissions will inform the Commission's recommendations to the governor and legislature.

The meetings will be held on Wednesday, March 2, Wednesday, March 9, and Wednesday, March 16 and chaired by Commissioners Krista Nash and Charles Barker.

For Sam Delgado, who was elected vice chair, the memory at the front of his mind when accepting the job was his own 1975 arrest for marijuana possession in upstate New York.

For Krista Nash, it was helping prisoners re-enter society while working as a social worker: "These are men and women that have been directly impacted by the war on drugs," she said. "I was a witness to the numerous barriers they faced as they tried to reintegrate back to the community."

The CRC is set to meet at 2 p.m. Monday, where its five members will begin the process of overseeing legal weed, medical marijuana and the industries expected to grow around them.

The agenda for the meeting, held virtually, is light. CRC chairwoman Dianna Houneou and executive director Jeff Brown will make remarks. The panel will elect a vice chair. They will adopt an official logo and set a meeting schedule.

The five members of the CRC are:

New Jersey is moving closer to opening its recreational marijuana market with plans slated for the first public meeting with the state’s new cannabis commission, Gov. Phil Murphy said Thursday.

The commission must establish regulations for the new recreational marijuana marketplace that voters ratified in an overwhelming vote in November. Murphy, a Democrat, said in February he thinks the market could be up and running in about six months.

Barker works as a policy staffer for U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, where he has focused on areas of criminal justice reform and marijuana legalization, as well as the economy and technology. He also who works with the National Action Network civil rights group founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton.