New Jersey Adult Use Cannabis Sales

Sales from New Jersey’s legal cannabis industry, both recreational and medicinal, brought in roughly $180 million this year so far. The update from the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission comes ahead of a legislative hearing on Friday on the status of the 18-month-old market.

Early indications look promising, with multiple potential cannabis businesses seeking state licenses to open in the city and more on the way. About $35 million in new investment is expected as part of two large-scale cannabis businesses in town, and MPX NJ, which became the city’s first business open to the recreational cannabis market on New York Avenue on April 20, is building a new and bigger structure right behind the current location.

New Jersey’s legalized market for recreational cannabis continues to grow as sales hit $132.48 million between October and December 2022, according to the state.

For the fourth quarter of the year, the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission recorded a 13% increase from the $116.57 million in revenue generated from June through September.

A year ago, ZenLeaf in Elizabeth was one of 13 dispensaries that officially opened for recreational marijuana sales in New Jersey. Since then, sales have been nonstop, according to general manager Sonny Achrekar. “We’re always get new people in and now that the weather is getting better, we’re going to get all the people flying in because we get all the airport traffic. So it’s just consistent,” he said.

New Jersey’s recreational cannabis industry launched one year ago, and Dominic Rivera is nearly $1 million in debt.

The Camden man thought his drive-through dispensary would be open by now, but it took 13 months to get the state to OK his application — approval he received just last week. In the meantime, he is nearly finished with construction, has hired nine employees, and has spent thousands on electricity for a store that can’t have any customers yet.

Happy birthday, legal weed!

April 21 represents one year since the first recreational marijuana sales occurred in New Jersey, after nearly a decade of activism in the Garden State. Across New Jersey, customers flocked to 12 dispensaries and waited on line — sometimes for hours — to be among the first people to legally purchase cannabis for personal use.

"I've waited 50 f---ing years for this!," one customer yelled before walking into a dispensary to make his first purchase last year.

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).

Vangst, a leading cannabis industry jobs platform, has released the annual 2023 Cannabis Jobs Report, which found that there are now 417,493 full-time equivalent jobs supported by the legal cannabis industry in the U.S. This represents a 2% drop in employment. It is the first time legal cannabis jobs have declined year-over-year since the modern legal era began in 2012.

At 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 1, Secaucus marijuana shop Harmony started recreational pot sales for the very first time.

This means that Harmony — which up until today was only allowed to sell pot to medicinal customers — can now sell marijuana to any member of the general public. You do not need a medical ID card; simply walk right in.

Sales of adult-use cannabis in New Jersey for the third quarter of 2022 topped $100 million, according to recently released data from state officials. The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission reported that sales of recreational marijuana from June 2022 through September 2022 totaled $116,572,533, representing a jump of 46% over the previous quarter. Sales of medical cannabis came to $61,138,231 during the same time period, bringing the total for combined medical and recreational marijuana sales to $177,710,764 for Q3 2022.