New Jersey collected more than $4.6 million in tax revenue in the first 10 weeks of legal weed sales in the Garden State.
Nearly $79.7 million in total sales of recreational marijuana was recorded between April 21 and June 30, the end of the second fiscal quarter, according to the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission and state Treasury Department.
More than $59.2 million in medical marijuana was sold during the same quarter.
Registered voters in New Jersey are expected to vote in favor of adult-use marijuana legalization in November — but uncertainty surrounds the pending legislation.
"Cannabis advocates looking forward to creating an adult use regulated and taxed cannabis marketplace have reason to be cautiously optimistic as we approach the consideration of the issue in the form of a public question on the ballot for the voters in November," says Charles Gormally, co-chair of the Brach Eichler LLC cannabis practice group.
How does this work in New Jersey?
The last iteration of the recreational marijuana legalization bill included a flat tax rate on cultivators growing the plant of $42 tax per ounce of marijuana.
The Legislature completed a fiscal impact analysis for an early version of the bill, but it doesn't calculate the costs for the latest proposal.