State Sen. Michael Testa, R-Vineland, addressed the acting attorney general on the enforcement of cannabis laws as they apply to off-duty police officers. Testa stated that the use of cannabis by off-duty police officers could put New Jersey at risk of losing federal grant funding.
Platkin responded that “the [New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act] statute is remarkably specific about what employers can do to employees in terms of adverse employment action in terms of regulated cannabis off duty.”
On Tuesday Starbucks workers, along with recently unionized cannabis dispensary workers, met with prominent labor leaders and Gov. Phil Murphy.
A recent decision allowing cannabis growing and processing in an agricultural area here has reaped a lawsuit in state court against the business and the Vineland Zoning Board.
The lawsuit was filed on March 22 on behalf of Donald and Sharon Money. They are longtime residents of the 200 block of Old Forest Road, not far from the project site at 3192 North West Boulevard.
Donald Money also was among numerous residents testifying against the project at its Zoning Board hearing on Jan. 19. The board, with one dissent, voted to give applicant 3192 NJGCCP LLC a use variance.
New Jersey lawmakers have introduced a series of bills meant to empower employers to punish workers—including law enforcement and other first responders specifically— from using marijuana off duty in compliance with state law.
The filing of the legislation comes amid a controversy over a document released by the state attorney general’s office last month that explained how New Jersey’s adult-use cannabis law currently allows police to use marijuana when they are not on the job.
Applications are being accepted for a new non-profit workforce development program that aims to provide a pathway for minorities that want to begin working in New Jersey’s legalized marijuana marketplace.
Founded by two New Jersey entrepreneurs, Brendon Robinson and Stanley Okoro, the Minority Cannabis Academy (MCA) is an eight-week program focused on equipping disenfranchised communities with the career skills related to the business and science of cannabis.
While it was known for some time that these white-owned businesses would be allowed to open first, social justice advocates were stung by the lack of businesses owned by Black, Indigenous or people of color, especially given the state’s continued reassurance and laws to ensure racial justice. According to Leafly’s 2021 Seeds of Change report, only 2% of the nation’s legally operated cannabis companies are Black-owned. Meanwhile, Black New Jerseyans are over three times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than their white counterparts.
Legal marijuana for recreational use has been on the market for just over a week in New Jersey, and the sales keep on growing. Some 12,000 people bought on opening day, spending $2 million. We visited two dispensaries, Zen Leaf in Elizabeth and Ascend in Rochelle Park, to see how they’re faring.
But it will likely be weeks, maybe even months, before Curaleaf Edgewater Park will open because it needs a much bigger parking lot, according to the land use attorney and engineer for Edgewater Park Township.
Attorney Tom Coleman, who represents the Edgewater Park Land Use Board, said although the medical dispensary had its municipal approvals memorialized on April 21 by the local board, Curaleaf still needed “to perfect” its site plans in accordance with the township’s conditional approval.
According to the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC), those 13 locations are:
North Jersey:
- Apothecarium, 1865 Springfield, Avenue, Maplewood
- Apothecarium, 55 South Main Street, Phillipsburg
- Ascend Wellness, 174 Route 17 North, Rochelle Park
- RISE, 26-48 Bloomfield Avenue, Bloomfield
- RISE, 196 3rd Avenue, #3C, Paterson
Central Jersey:
- Zen Leaf, 117 Sprint Street, Elizabeth
- Zen Leaf, 3256 Brunswick Pike, Lawrence Township
South Jersey:
Randall Marcos offered a polite clap. The sound fell somewhere between being treated to an audience with the queen and watching from the hush of a greenside gallery as a frustrated golfer drops a short putt to end a disastrous round.
“Yeah, whoopee,” he said, dryly, tapping his hands together a few times, as New Jersey last week began selling recreational cannabis to anyone at least 21 years old. “They legalized it for rec use, finally.