Twenty-two municipalities that had previously opted out of hosting any form of adult-use cannabis business now allow dispensaries, the news outlet reported, while three other towns that had initially allowed other types of businesses—but not retailers—have since passed ordinances to allow adult-use cannabis retail.
In addition, 10 municipalities that previously banned all types of adult-use cannabis operations have since decided to host other forms of cannabis businesses, but not dispensaries, app.com reported.
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 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.)
Maybe. But, consider this: If recreational shops were to open this month, or if medical shops were approved to sell recreational cannabis—as Gov. Phil Murphy suggested in a recent interview with WBGO—it actually wouldn’t be that much longer of a process than in other states. In Colorado, which was the first of two states to allow recreational cannabis sales (with Washington), 14 months passed before the first 37 stores opened their doors. Washington took 20 months.
When medical cannabis dispensaries hire lobbyists in Trenton, they’re not lobbying for us, the patients. They’re lobbying for themselves, usually against us. For example: to defend their marketshare, NJ’s medical cannabis dispensaries have aggressively lobbied against provisions for the home cultivation of cannabis.
That’s why cultivation remains extremely illegal in NJ where, despite a wildly successful recreational cannabis referendum, you can still go to jail for 5 years for a single pot plant.
When adult use sales begin in New Jersey — which, according to the governor, will be in a matter of “weeks” — the products will look a bit different.
The Cannabis Regulatory Commission held a meeting on Thursday during which regulators gave licensing updates, talked about concerns related to cannabis smoke and air quality, and fielded testimony and questions from residents. Regulators also approved a resolution to adopt a universal symbol for cannabis packaging.
Although New Jersey missed a Feb. 22 deadline set by regulators to kick-start adult-use marijuana sales in the state, the launch isn’t far off, Gov. Phil Murphy predicted this week.
“We are within weeks – I would hope in March – you would see implicit movement on the medical dispensaries, some of them being able to sell recreational,” Murphy said during a radio show, NJ.com reported.
“If I had to predict, we are within weeks — I would hope in March — you would see implicit movement on the medical dispensaries, some of them being able to sell recreational,” Murphy said during his radio show on WBGO in Newark. “They’ve got to prove they’ve got the supply for their medical customers. I hope shortly thereafter, the standalone recreational marijuana operators.”
New Jersey voters overwhelmingly approved legalizing recreational marijuana in November 2020, but sales have not started after more than a year.
Gov. Phil Murphy, who successfully pushed to legalize cannabis for recreational use, said he wasn’t concerned that the state may not meet a Feb. 22 deadline for selling weed to the public.
“I’d rather get it right than get it fast,” Murphy told NJ Advance Media on Sunday. “They’re doing a really good job. They want to do a job that’s different and better than any other state that’s ever done it, in particular as it relates to addressing inequities, which has been a central theme of mine.”
On Monday January 10, Last Prisoner Project led a coalition in publishing an open letter to New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy. The letter urges Gov. Murphy to grant categorical clemency to all marijuana offenders who are currently incarcerated in New Jersey state prisons. Despite the state legalizing cannabis for medicinal use in 2010, and adult-use a decade later, the letter maintains that “hundreds remain incarcerated or on supervised release.”