New Jersey

Limited licensing

Let’s look at the other states that chose the limited, “privileged” license model.

Illinois, Florida, New York, Ohio, New Jersey, Nevada and several other states have followed this path.

The initial application process defines the market and the players.

The result has been “Big Weed” and the birth of the multistate operator, or MSO.

Since getting and maintaining a license is a separate skill from successfully running a cannabis company, many of the operators in these markets have figured out only part of the marijuana business.

What is expected to be America's largest cannabis market is still stuck in limbo as New York legislators hammer out the details.

When will consumers be able to walk into a store and buy cannabis?

"We don't know, we don't know," Patrik Jonsson, northeast regional president at Curaleaf, told Insider. "And not just on the timeline, but also what we're going to be allowed to do," he said.

Ascend, which completed its initial public offering (IPO) in May, has operations in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois including its flagship retail locations. A pending investment in New York will give Ascend access to that market — one of the hottest new markets to approve cannabis for recreational use. The company looks to grow into other limited license recreational or near-recreational markets. Examples of such markets include Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia and Arizona.

Ayr has built its footprint in 8 states — Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Since October 2020, Ayr Wellness has acquired Liberty Health Sciences (FL), Doc House (PA), CannTech (PA), Parma Wellness Center (AZ), Oasis (AZ), Garden State Dispensary (NJ), Ohio Medical Solutions (OH), NV Green (NV), Tahoe Hydro (NV) and Herbal Remedies Dispensaries (IL).

Why Ayr Wellness could continue to be a hot buy

Long-term investors will want to zero in on the company's outlook for 2022, when it anticipates that it will benefit from investments in multiple markets, including Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The company projects that in 2022, its revenue will hit $725 million and adjusted EBITDA will come in at $325 million.

Take a look at the three polls released on the topic in 2021:

Consider where things stand. Already this year New Mexico, New Jersey, New York and Virginia have legalized weed, which if you add them to the existing legal states, means some 43% of the U.S. population now lives in states where recreational marijuana is legal, as noted by Vox in a recent story headlined "Marijuana legalization has won." On tap this year are possibly Connecticut, Delaware, Minnesota and Rhode Island, while others like Wisconsin and Maryland are considering it as well. The record years for states legalizing weed were 2016 and last year at four.

When Arizonans voted to legalize recreational cannabis in November, it seemed plausible that sales would begin sometime in the spring.

But on Jan. 22, less than three months after the vote, the Arizona Department of Health Services started quickly approving applications, allowing dispensaries to sell cannabis to adults 21 and older immediately.

So even as we make progress, I still can’t bring myself to rejoice yet. In the days after the 2020 election, news articles and social media posts celebrated the legalization of recreational cannabis in multiple states: Montana, Arizona, New Jersey, and South Dakota. Then in late 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to decriminalize cannabis at the federal level. (The bill remains stalled in the Senate.) But while decriminalization and legalization are the first steps toward equality, they are not a complete solution.

The law makes possession of 1 oz. or less of psilocybin, the psychedelic component of mushrooms, a disorderly persons offense. Penalties for a conviction include up to six months in county jail and a $1,000 fine. The law is effective immediately.

Previously possession of any amount of psilocybin was a third-degree crime that could warrant 3 to 5 years in prison and an enhanced fine of up to $35,000.

Murphy signed the bill, S3256/A5084, without releasing a public statement.