Curaleaf

New Jersey’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission pushed back a bit on the idea that the industry is not opening up fast enough in New Jersey.

The comments came in response after Curaleaf, the largest distributor in the state, said last week it had to lay off workers at its Winslow production facility because they had enough product to handle what needed to be sold in the state’s 35 retail outlets.

Curaleaf, the leading grower and seller of cannabis in New Jersey, announced Monday that it is laying off 49 employees at its Winslow production facility, saying the slower-than-expected rollout of the sector has impacted the amount of product that can be sold, despite a strong market for it.

Curaleaf CEO Matt Darin said the company still believes in the cannabis market in the state — and that this job action has nothing to do with a dispute with the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission earlier this spring.

For the second time in the past four months, cannabis business behemoth Curaleaf is reducing its cultivation footprint in one of the newest adult-use markets in the country.

The New York-based multistate operator, which has more than 5,000 employees nationwide, announced this week that it’s laying off 49 workers at its Winslow cultivation and production facility in southern New Jersey. This facility became fully operational in 2021 in anticipation of the state’s adult-use sales launch, which happened in April 2022.

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.

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.

New Jersey’s adult-use cannabis market is still getting going, but that didn’t stop a handful of licensed retailers grandfathered in from the medical program from recording more than a half billion dollars in cannabis sales for 2022.

With nearly $329 million in adult-use sales since the state's launch last April, and more than $226 million in medical sales, New Jersey’s licensed retail market cashed in $555 million altogether in 2022, according to recently released figures from the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission (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.