The Cannabis Regulatory Commission will hold its first meeting April 12, marking the official launch of a powerful state agency that will be tasked with rulemaking and licensing for New Jersey’s adult use industry.
Gov. Phil Murphy filed the appointments of all five members on Wednesday, according to a release put out by the administration Thursday morning.
“This will be the first meeting of many as we put the values of equity and safety into practice in regulating this new industry,” CRC Chair Dianna Houenou said in a statement.
Increasingly, a group of larger companies known as multistate operators, or MSOs, dominate the industry. While still small compared with, say, liquor companies, the largest MSOs have dozens of stores and hundreds of millions in annual revenue. Leading MSOs such as Curaleaf, Cresco Labs, and Columbia Care have raised money by going public in Canada.
Item 9 Labs Corp. (OTCQX: INLB), a vertically integrated cannabis company, today announced its dispensary franchise, Unity Rd., has signed agreements with three entrepreneurial groups for expansion into New Jersey. Each team will be pursuing at least one dispensary license to open a Unity Rd. shop in the state.
Ocean City’s governing body gave final approval Thursday night to an ordinance that prohibits businesses that cultivate, manufacture, test or sell marijuana.
Looking to preserve its family-friendly image, the city will ban the sale of marijuana in the aftermath of New Jersey’s legalization of cannabis in February.
Township Council members approved an ordinance that bans all recreational marijuana businesses from operating within the township. This includes dispensaries, cultivators and testing facilities.
The adoption came after lengthy discussion that included public comment, and after council member Francine Ritter proposed that the council consider pulling the ordinance and reconvening with a public forum.
"Reconsider this one and allow the public to speak," she said.
That won't happen.
Dianna Houenou has a vision for New Jersey’s forthcoming cannabis industry.
Houenou, a senior policy advisor and associate counsel for Governor Phil Murphy, is the incoming chair of the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission. She foresees an industry “that embodies both equity and integrity.” Further, she says, “I hope to instill in the commission a culture of doing work through an equity lens and encouraging social responsibility among business owners and operators. ”
Possession Of Up To Six Ounces Now Legal
The mayor of Wayne says an ordinance on a full ban of the retail sale of marijuana was approved Wednesday night by a vote of 8-1.
In Wayne, a township of over 55,000 -- about 18,000 residents voted to legalize marijuana in the November election. But the Wayne council introduced an ordinance on March 3 to ban the sale.
Adult-use marijuana may have been legalized in New Jersey, but local zoning bans are just one of the obstacles business owners are facing as they try to enter the market. And some are concerned that Black-owned businesses will be shut out of the industry.
This April 20, stoners across New Jersey will rejoice as they pull out their lighters and prepare to spend an ungodly amount of money on snacks in the middle of the night. After years of apprehension, marijuana was legalized in New Jersey by Gov. Phil Murphy (D-N.J.), opening the door to the recreational usage of the substance to all over 21.
This landmark decision was celebrated not only due to the many highs it sparked but also because it marked the end to at least one segment of the war on drugs.