State regulators reported few initial glitches after sales began last Thursday – although some recreational customers were frustrated by prolonged waits in lines dozens of people long.

Also, one of the 13 stores approved by regulators delayed its opening.

The store, owned by Massachusetts-based Curaleaf Holdings in Edgewater Park, northeast of Philadelphia, attributed the delay to undisclosed details that needed to be resolved with the municipality.

New Jersey is the first East Coast recreational market to open in 18 months, following Maine in October 2020.

Supply issues were top of mind ahead of Thursday’s launch, given concerns over whether operators could serve the state’s 120,000 medical cannabis patients without disrupting recreational supplies.

New Jersey’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission noted in a news release that no patient-access issues or shortages were reported on Day One and only a “few minor complaints” were investigated.

Despite the relatively smooth launch, supply concerns haven’t vanished.

Rather, a number of questions remain for a market that the 2022 MJBiz Factbook projects will generate $625 million-$775 million in sales this year, growing to $2 billion-$2.4 billion a year by 2026.

The questions include:

• Will supplies hold up for residents, customers from neighboring states and tourists? New Jersey drew 116 million tourists in 2019, before the pandemic.
• What will happen to the state’s grand experiment to license a large number of social equity and microbusinesses? Will those businesses get the capital they need to build their businesses and succeed in a market currently dominated by multistate operators?
• How will New Jersey’s recreational marijuana sales fare once its rival neighbor New York launches its adult-use market later this year or in early 2023?

“Over-demand and undersupply is the biggest initial risk to New Jersey,” said Joshua Horn, co-chair of the cannabis law practice of Fox Rothschild. “I do see foresee supply-chain issues in the short run.”

Horn noted that the New Jersey medical program – with only a dozen licensed operators – remains “kind of in a catch-up mode. There’s a concern that if the medical program is not operating at 100% capacity and now you have adult-use, what’s going to happen?

“When things settle down (from the initial flurry of sales), that’s when we’ll see the viability of the program.”

Initial excitement

Ed DeVeaux, president of the New Jersey CannaBusiness Association, was the second to purchase recreational marijuana at Acreage Holdings’ The Botanist retail store in Williamstown, 40 minutes southeast of Philadelphia.

“It’s just an exciting time,” he told MJBizDaily.

DeVeaux said he had mixed emotions about customer cars taking a lane of the highway, but it reflected the strong demand.

“You had drivers from New York and Pennsylvania,” he added. “So guess what? We (New Jersey) beat you.”

DeVeaux said he thought the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) fulfilled its obligation to ensure the seven marijuana companies approved for the launch were capable of handling the business while ensuring that MMJ patients were the priority.

Bill Caruso, a cannabis law attorney with Archer in New Jersey who helped write the state’s first medical marijuana legislation, agreed.

Caruso noted that the first day “went off basically without a hitch, with patient priorities being paramount.”

The post New Jersey’s recreational cannabis program has smooth launch despite supply worries appeared first on NJCBA.

In her Jan. 5 inaugural State of the State Address, Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed a $200 million social equity fund in the state’s $216.3 billion fiscal year budget, which has yet to be hammered out as the state missed its Friday deadline. New York lawmakers are expected to reconvene on Monday in Albany.

The $200 million fund to be backed by state and private dollars is intended to help entrepreneurs of color and other under-represented groups get into the business.

While the idea is short on details, Hochul and supporters say the fund is to get capital to those who need it most since cost of applying is a real barrier to entry.

It’s prompted some lawyers who represent smaller marijuana operators and wealthy investors to ask: Why not a social equity fund in New Jersey?

Jeff Brown, executive director of the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission, said he found New York’s idea “interesting,” but could not point to a similar big-dollar proposal to ensure diversity and inclusivity in the nascent industry in New Jersey.

“The CRC threaded equity and inclusivity through every part of the rules we wrote for the recreational cannabis market and we know that financing is an additional piece of ensuring the market is accessible,” Brown said in an email to NJ Cannabis Insider. “We have been working with other state agencies to identify access to capital, workforce development assistance, and business development resources for aspiring entrepreneurs and expect to have new initiatives in the future.”

The CRC last week approved 68 cultivators and manufacturers for conditional licenses as a social equity measure to give the smaller operations a piece of what is expected to be a multi-billion dollar industry alongside multi-state operators and well-heeled investors.

“These are the first businesses to get a foot forward in the state of New Jersey,” Brown said at the meeting. “I cannot stress that enough.”

That action was overshadowed by the board’s unexpected delay in approving eight medical marijuana dispensaries’ applications to also sell recreational weed this spring, which spurred Senate President Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, to announce he would hold oversight hearings over the CRC’s performance. The 68 smaller operators aren’t expected to be in a position to sell weed until late fall at the earliest.

At the meeting, Brown also noted that the New Jersey Economic Development Authority is working to help ensure a diverse pool of applicants.

“Additionally, we hope that municipal leaders, property owners, and others who stand to benefit from a thriving cannabis market will choose to invest in new businesses by not setting up financial obstacles for entrepreneurs,” said Brown.

The governor’s office acknowledged there was no social equity set-aside akin to New York’s proposal in Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed $48.9 billion budget, which would kick in on July 1.

“Our administration has always strived to eliminate barriers to entry for the adult-use recreational cannabis marketplace, through low fees, priority application review for licenses for micro-businesses, impact zone businesses, and social equity businesses, and the option to apply for a conditional license,” said Murphy spokesman Michael Zhadanovsky to NJ Cannabis Insider.

“The governor and the CRC are committed to working with advocates and stakeholders to ensure a marketplace that works for everyone. The administration is always open to hearing new ideas for equity in the marketplace,” added Zhadandovsky..

Murphy has said minor marijuana convictions did irreparable harm to Black and brown communities, whose members were sent to jail by the nation’s failed War on Drugs. The governor said the primary goal of the legalization of cannabis and its sale in a legit market is to fund restorative justice programs.

After signing the cannabis bill last year, Murphy touted that New Jersey’s cannabis market would be one of the most inclusive in the country, welcoming everyone from mom-and-pop operations to larger concerns, and giving preference to minority- and women-owned businesses.

New York’s social equity fund received a mixed response from those closely watching New Jersey’s yet-to-open adult market.

“We’re not an apples to apples comparison in the regards of financing mechanisms,” said attorney Beau Huch, a former top aide to state Sen. Declan O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth, who worked on both the medical and recreational cannabis bills. “I do know New Jersey is broke.”

“We have no money to just give away and that’d be a heavy lift here even if we did,” added Huch.

Edmund DeVeaux, president of the trade group New Jersey CannaBusiness Association, said it can’t be just about money to ensure the success of minority and women-owned cannabis enterprises.

“In our evolving regulatory and legislative arenas, the state has provided not only prioritization for communities most impacted by unequitable treatment under the law, but those with previous cannabis convictions and small startup businesses also have access to various forms of assistance through state sources like the Economic Development Authority, Business Action Center, and New Jersey Re-entry Corporation,” DeVeaux said in an email to NJ Cannabis Insider.

“There has to be a recognition that future and current participants in the cannabis industry may have to hone certain skills to be successful in the long-term.”

But some in the Garden State say applicants need the financial assistance more at the front end of the application process.

New York expects to start issuing licenses to sell adult-use recreational cannabis sometime next year. Hochul’s $200 million social equity fund would be backed by state and private dollars to provide capital and startup support for disadvantaged applicants.

Hochul envisions allocating $50 million — money that New York would advance before collecting it from cannabis license fees and taxes — and look to private investors for the rest.

A private partner would manage the fund that could give both grants and loans to eligible businesses, which would include those owned by women or minorities, disabled veterans and people from communities that endured heavy weed law enforcement. Specifics are still in the works.

If that money is approved, New York may use some of it to help open cannabis businesses, including securing retail leases and furnishing stores.

Nadir Pearson of Clifton would love it if New Jersey adopts this idea. The 25-year old Black entrepreneur said he could use the financial help as he applies for a conditional manufacturing license. So far Pearson said he’s spent $13,000 on lawyers to review his conditional application. He expects another $35,000 in fees to convert to an annual license.

On top of that, Pearson is spending tens of thousands of dollars on a down payment on a 16,000-square-foot warehouse in South Jersey. He secured the site in February, but with the ongoing delays in launching New Jersey’s adult recreational market, Pearson said he’s paying $10,000 a month in rent for a property not yet generating any revenue.

“Legislators should be a little bit more cognizant of the economic impact that they’re going to be having when they put in these statutes.” Pearson said. “There’s a strong disconnect between understanding the actual business of cannabis and the intent of these laws.”

Like many entrepreneurs, Pearson has tapped personal funds, relatives and friends — to get his foot in the door. His mother, Onika Perez, and another business partner, Hope Wiseman – a cannabis operator in Maryland – are listed as majority owners on the application to snag one of the women-owned business licenses. He has a minority stake.

“Figuring out ways to alleviate some of these financial burdens needs to be a priority … wherever the state feels that it can be most strongly suited to provide financial assistance – it should,” said Pearson.

“If true equity was the standing point on which we wanted to create this industry, then they need to take a long hard look at that.”

The post N.Y. proposes $200M social equity fund to help minority businesses sell weed. What about N.J.? appeared first on NJCBA.

Scott Rudder, a former mayor and state assemblyman, founded the New Jersey CannaBusiness Association, the state’s largest industry trade group, which played a major role in the campaign to legalize cannabis here.

Ahead of his talk at the Cannabis Career Fair & Business Expo, co-hosted by NJ Cannabis Insider, the NJCBA and Stockton, Rudder spoke to us about what to expect as the consumer market prepares to open — possible in coming weeks. (Purchase tickets here. Students free) .

Q: You stepped down as president of the NJCBA soon after the 2020 election, when New Jersey voters approved cannabis legalization. Edmund DeVeaux has since been leading the organization. You’re still active as a NJCBA board member. Tell us what you’re up to.

A: With the NJCBA, I was involved last year with helping to craft the bill the ended on the governor’s desk. We all tried to make it as well-rounded as possible, focusing on both the business side of things but also recognizing the social equity and social justice side of the discussion. And now, I’m working with regulators to help make it all a reality. We’re operating under the most recent regulations, but those regulations expire this year in August — which by the way, there’s going to be another round of discussions and public hearings for how the regulations could be amended.

Q: What’s your perspective of where we are now? It’s been a waiting game for legalization for many years to, and now we’re waiting again for the market to open.

A: It’s really interesting where we are because, as as eager as everybody is, it’s taking a little bit longer than some people expected. But when you look at other states, it took every other state a long time to implement their new program, right? It takes a while to develop the rules and regulations to get applications in.

What I really like where we are right now as opposed to previous years, for example, is the process the CRC (Cannabis Regulatory Commission) is implementing today. It really makes it as easy as possible — even though this is hard — to actually get a license. Applicants under these new rules and regs, in which applicants who have a deficiency in their application don’t get rejected forever. They’re actually given the opportunity to fix it. So if your standard operating procedure for security, for example, is deficient, they send it back. So you’re able to fix it.

That’s one of the things that we are really excited about at the NJCBA. What I’m personally excited about as well — when you when you look at what what happened in New Jersey in 2018 and 2019 with lawsuits, which also happened in other states — if your application [missed] one point from the scoring system, then you were out for a period of time until there was another open process.

What we have in 2022 is a continuous open enrollment process. So that if I’m not ready as an applicant, I can apply when I am ready. Right now is dramatically better than where we were just a couple of years ago.

Q: One of the challenges we keep hearing about are obstacles that municipalities are putting up. What are you telling the business community?

A: The state really wanted local municipalities to have a greater say. And that’s a lot of what you see now. That was designed so that you don’t have the thumb of state government over the entire process of trying to micromanage like, for example, how a town wants to zone.

At the end of the day, though, in some of these municipalities where everything is so tight, where things are so densely populated, there are some towns you just couldn’t operate in period — because everywhere you look there was a church or a school or a public institution or what have you.

So now you’re seeing there’s some towns that are so excited to get cannabis businesses so they can reap the benefits of this new program. And there are other towns that come out with torches and pitchforks because they don’t want it there. So not every town is going to be the same even though cannabis was overwhelmingly approved by the voters in just about every single town.

A lot of these pockets of opposition are going to be resolved through education or comfort level. We saw this in Colorado, where 70% of the towns opted out of legalization. That’s a surprise to a lot of people who don’t follow the cannabis industry. They had a lot of the town that had the same issues we have. Their concerns were based on antiquated information, outdated studies or just blunt misinformation about what cannabis is and it’s not and how it impacts community. It’s a minority of people who actually feel that way. But once we get past that, I think it’s going to be a very wide open market.

This conversation was edited for clarity.

In addition to Rudder, the cannabis career fair will include panels and CannaTalks, featuring speakers from Columbia Care, Curaleaf, former city legislators, compliance professionals and experts on hemp/CBD and manufacturing.

Employers and vendors will also be on hand for speed interviews and networking, including, the New Jersey Cannabis Trade Association (the spotlight sponsor); Columbia Care (headshot sponsor); Longview Strategic; The Botanist; HBK CPA; ATH NJ; Earth & Ivy; TerrAscend; Puffin and New Jersey CannaBusiness Association.

This is the second career fair NJ Cannabis Insider, New Jersey CannaBusiness Assn. and Stockton University have co-hosted.

The post Founder of largest N.J. legal weed business group to speak at cannabis career fair and networking event next week appeared first on NJCBA.

“California and Nevada and Colorado – they’re already doing cannabis tourism,” says John Fanburg, co-chair of the Cannabis Industry Practice at Brach Eichler.

Fanburg is a cannabis industry attorney and presented at the conference in Atlantic City on how New Jersey can boost its tourism by including cannabis in the mix. Other states have already seen success in this industry.

“You get on the 420 Bus and you drive out to the grow facility. You see how they do it, you see how they process it and then they have tasting rooms,” Fanburg says.

New Jersey does not allow this under the law. But unlike other states, New Jersey will allow consumption lounges.

“It provides a place and location that’s safe, out of the way, not in the face of people who don’t want to see this, not in the face of children,” Fanburg says. “They will have to be associated with either a medical dispensary or adult recreational dispensary.”

According to the New Jersey Tourism Industry Association, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism sector directly represented just over $20 million of the state’s Gross Domestic Product. This is a little bit more than 3% of the state’s economy. Experts say the likelihood of cannabis tourism existing and thriving in New Jersey, is extremely likely and could bolster those numbers.

“When we look at New Jersey, we have a regional economy to begin with,” says Edmund DeVeaux, of the New Jersey Cannabusiness Association. “We go to New York or Philadelphia for sports, we go to New York or Philadelphia for restaurants and people come through New Jersey for the same thing.”

Cannabis tourism could look like cannabis-friendly hotels, restaurants, cooking classes, festivals and upscale social lounges. For now, in New Jersey, this is still just talk and there are several other license applications cannabis industry hopefuls are waiting on.
“In just two weeks, the state will start accepting applications for grow and manufacture license,” Fanburg says. “March 15 is when they’ll begin to accept applications for dispensaries for retails establishments.”

Experts say cannabis tourism could be a thing of the near future and that it could be as soon as the third or fourth quarters of next year when New Jersey residents will be able to walk into a shop and buy recreational marijuana.

The post Marijuana advocates say New Jersey’s legalization laws could increase tourism appeared first on NJCBA.

Many of the rules unveiled by the Cannabis Regulatory Commission favor local entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds by giving them priority over multi-state operators in the licensing process.

That could address concerns many have voiced. Nearly all of New Jersey’s 12 currently licensed medical marijuana companies have out-of-state ownership. Local entrepreneurs have worried they will struggle to compete in the growing market.

The legal cannabis law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy in February set a deadline of Aug. 21 for the commission to establish its rules. While the law lays out the types of cannabis business licenses that will be available in New Jersey, it left the commission with autonomy to craft the industry.

“This has not been any easy process by any means,” said Charles Barker, one of the commissioners. “Everyone may not be satisfied, and there is still more work to be done. Know that we welcome that challenge.”

To meet the deadline, the commission drafted the most necessary regulations. They will continue work on the full rules to guide delivery, distribution and wholesaling, said the commission’s executive director Jeff Brown.

The law will allow only 37 new marijuana growers to be licensed before February 2023. But it did not set limits on the other types of licenses, which include manufacturing, delivery, wholesale, distribution and retail.

According to the commission’s rules, microbusinesses, which have 10 employees or less, will not count toward any license limits the commission sets. They also can pay just 50% of the licensure fees larger companies will face, but 100% of their ownership must reside in New Jersey.

The commission will also give priority to social equity businesses, those in “impact zones,” or municipalities unevenly affected by marijuana prohibition, and to those run by women, racial minorities and disabled veterans. The social equity businesses must have 50% ownership by people with previous marijuana convictions or by those who have spent five of the last 10 years living in economically disadvantaged areas.

“Focusing on microbusinesses and social equity first is the right direction to head in,” Ed DeVeaux, president of the New Jersey CannaBusiness Association, said in a statement. “The NJCBA has always stressed the importance of widening the market to allow as many cannabis entrepreneurs as possible.”

The licensing process will include background checks, but a criminal conviction will not necessarily bar someone from obtaining a license. If a person can demonstrate their rehabilitation to the commission, they could still move forward.

Now that the commission has regulations in place, a timeline for legal sales to begin takes shape. The board must pick a date within 180 days for the first sales to people 21 and older.

The commission rules say that people 21 and older can purchase and possess one ounce of cannabis products. This conflicts with the decriminalization law, which allows people to possess up to six ounces without any legal consequences.

Only businesses licensed to grow, process and sell medical marijuana to authorized patients currently operate in New Jersey. But many of these dispensaries will sell weed to the public, too. According to the regulations, the dispensaries must show they can legally grow, process and sell recreational marijuana in their home cities and towns, certify they have sufficient product to serve patients and customers 21 and older and that they will not make operational changes that favor the legal market over the medical one.

When determining if they can sell to the public, the commission will consider the total number of patients in the state and enrolled at that specific alternative treatment center, statewide and dispensary inventory, the amount of marijuana being grown in the state and at the facility, and the amount needed to serve patients.

They will also see higher fees. To expand a medical operation that grows, process and sells marijuana out of three facilities, alternative treatment centers will have to pay as much as $1 million.

The rules become effective upon filing with the Office of Administrative Law, and remain in place for one year.

The regulations became available just two days before municipalities must decide if they will allow, restrict or ban weed businesses from their borders. The law gave cities and towns the autonomy to decide where, how many and which types of cannabis businesses they would welcome, but some local officials have said it is difficult to navigate the process without available rules and regulations from the commission. Many have decided to ban all businesses for now and reconsider later, waiting to see how they affect other cities and towns that move ahead.

Earlier this year, Brown implored municipalities to wait for the rules and regulations before making their decision. On Thursday, he said the commission will welcome changes to those ordinances now that municipalities can see the final rules.

“It’s been a long road to get here,” said the commissioner’s chair Dianna Houenou. “And for many, really too many people, it’s been a decades-long effort to push the state of New Jersey to abandon its prohibitionist policies.”

The post New weed industry rules attempt to give N.J. small businesses a boost in competitive market appeared first on NJCBA.

4/20, the unofficial weed holiday of unknown origins, has a new meaning in New Jersey this year. Two months ago, Gov. Phil Murphy signed laws that decriminalize up to six ounces of marijuana and outline a legal cannabis industry for people 21 and older.

But work remains both to set up the industry and ease access for medical marijuana patients, who have long complained about product shortages and high prices. There’s still stigma, too; many cities and towns are contemplating ordinances that would ban weed businesses in their borders, even though nearly municipality in the state voted in favor of a ballot question to legalize marijuana.

“We’re beyond legalization, and we’re now at normalization,” said Ed DeVeaux, president of the New Jersey CannaBusiness Association.

Dozens of people, many of them medical marijuana patients, held an afternoon-long festival and rally outside of the Statehouse. They passed joints and grabbed bags of Funyuns and Doritos from a table as a DJ played music, drowning out construction sounds from the Statehouse renovation.

Patients can consume medical marijuana in many public places aside from school grounds, beaches and parks. That gives them broad protection to smoke in the capital complex full of New Jersey state troopers. But a handful of people at the rally said they were smoking marijuana they bought from drug dealers rather than dispensaries, citing high prices and concerns about reports of mold in the regulated plants as reasons to rely on the illicit market.

Patients also want the right to grow their own cannabis at home. New Jersey is one of the only states that blocks even medical marijuana patients from having plants of their own.

“We can’t afford our medicine,” said Edward “Lefty” Grimes of the patient advocacy group Sativa Cross. “They need to fix that.”

There’s momentum to change home grow laws, and two lawmakers have introduced that would allow people to grow a small number of plants at home.

Growing marijuana is not the easiest task, and many patients would prefer to shop at dispensaries. But there’s a cohort who do grow their own.

A 22-year-old at the rally who did not give his name said he grows around two or three plants typically. Even though he is a registered medical patient, he fears police could arrest him, and hides the plants even from friends.

“I’m so paranoid about it,” he said.

There are others operating on the fringes of the law.

Daniel Kessel parked his white pickup truck bearing his company’s name, Bud hub, along State Street Tuesday. He hopes to get a license to grow and sell in the legal weed industry, but for now, he’s “gifting” cannabis — people buy stickers, and he delivers weed along with the order.

Without regulations in place, there’s no way for him to conduct business entirely legally. He said he fills about 400 orders a week anyway, many for patients who will not pay the higher prices in the medical dispensaries.

“Until that changes, the black market will thrive,” Kessel said. “Quality sells.”

Legal sales are months away in the regulated market, but they were in full swing at NJ Weedman’s Joint, Ed Forchion’s restaurant and smoke shop a mile down State Street.

Some 300 people had already passed through the restaurant by mid-afternoon, filling the colorful rooms and mingling amidst Rastafarian decor, where Forchion has framed and saved newspaper pages about him and his business. He is the most recognizable face and loudest voice in the state’s illegal market, known for his restaurant boldly situation near the federal courthouse and a white SUV emblazoned with the words “Pot Trooper” and a logo that mimics that of State Police.

In his shop’s adjacent yard, several vendors had set up, selling weed-infused cookies, Rice Krispies and cereals, all packaged carefully and labeled from various small businesses.

A man checked people’s bags and swiped a metal detector in front of them as they entered. The peaceful party was BYOB — bring your own bud, and several groups sat in lawn chairs, smoking and talking.

“How can you say what we’re doing is wrong?” Debi Madaoi, who owns the restaurant with Forchion, said gesturing to the happy crowd.

Forchoin has had several run-ins with police, the most recent earlier this year as he drove his iconic SUV outside of the city. But police in Trenton largely leave him alone now, and they had not come by the restaurant as of 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

He advocated for a more progressive legalization effort that would legitimize the existing marijuana market, like himself, instead of giving licenses to big companies. He’s dissatisfied with the law passed and does not have a license to sell weed. That hasn’t stopped him over the years.

“I’m not 100% down with the bill, but that’s not what this is about,” Forchion said. “This is like a victory lap. The perception is: legalization is here.”

The post N.J. celebrates its first legal 4/20 by lighting up joints in Trenton appeared first on NJCBA.

And while the move did clear a path for a law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy that sets up parameters for the state’s legal marketplace, there’s no real clue as to when selling will actually commence in the Garden State.

As of now, it’s uncertain whether New Jersey will even begin with sales before neighboring New York, which legalized recreational pot in late March.

Rob Mejia, an adjunct professor of cannabis studies at Stockton University in Galloway, said a realistic timeline for New Jersey is another 12 months. New York can’t launch its market until at least April 2022.

“I bet that we’ll both open to adult use in a three-month window,” Mejia told New Jersey 101.5.

Mejia noted New Jersey currently has an edge over the Empire State in the area of growing. New Jersey’s 12 medical marijuana distribution centers are trying to ramp up operations quickly, in order to prove they have enough flower to serve their medical-use patients as well as recreational-use individuals. New York, meanwhile, has not allowed smoking as part of its medical marijuana program.

But the biggest driver for some consumers, at least early on with both markets running, could be price, Mejia suggested. In terms of smokable flower, he said, New Jersey currently has the most expensive medical cannabis in the country.

“If New York was actually to come in and have lower prices, you would have some people who would travel for lower prices,” Mejia said.

Unlike New Jersey, New York is permitting stand-alone consumption lounges, and allowing individuals to grow their own marijuana.

Edmund Deveaux, president of the New Jersey Cannabusiness Association, said New York shouldn’t be seen as competition — this is the start of the “formation of the cannabis economy in the tri-state area.” If New York offers certain marijuana experiences that the Garden State does not, perhaps New Jerseyans will take random trips across state lines to partake, just as they would for different dinner or entertainment options, he said.

“I don’t see New York State negatively impacting New Jersey’s economy,” Deveaux said. “I think that we all benefit from movement forward.”

Deveaux said New Jersey’s progress toward an up-and-running legal market may be described by many as slow-moving, since Gov. Murphy envisioned legal weed in the first 100 days of his term, but the most important target right now is “getting it right.”

The post New York is getting legal weed, too — What NJ needs to worry about appeared first on NJCBA.

State regulators now have 180 days from the bill’s enactment to develop rules and regulations.

That means existing medical marijuana operators could begin adult-use sales before year-end.

The Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) will regulate New Jersey’s medical marijuana program and also provide oversight for the impending recreational market.

The following three appointees will join Chair Dianna Houenou and Jeff Brown on the CRC:

• Maria Del Cid, director of policy and legislative services at the New Jersey Department of Health.
• William Wallace, director of the professional division of Local 342 of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International Union.
• Sam Delgado, who served as vice president of external affairs at Verizon before retiring.

“This has been a week of great progress on cannabis in New Jersey,” Edmund DeVeaux, president of the New Jersey CannaBusiness Association, said in a statement.

DeVeaux said the business group looks forward to working with the CRC  “to create a responsible, sustainable, diverse and profitable cannabis industry in New Jersey.”

The post New Jersey fills remaining slots on marijuana oversight commission appeared first on NJCBA.

“This has been a week of great progress on cannabis in New Jersey. Congratulations to all the members of the CRC as they embark on this critical function for our state’s cannabis future. We look forward to working together with the Commission to create a responsible, sustainable, diverse and profitable cannabis industry in New Jersey.”

The post NJCBA President Deveaux on Final Appointments to Cannabis Regulatory Commission appeared first on NJCBA.

That legislation and the actions businesses and communities take will shape the one of the most important economic and social justice components of the Garden State for the foreseeable future.

On March 9-10, NJ Cannabis Insider will host a virtual event over two consecutive mornings of strategic networking sessions built around speakers and panel discussions focused on what the new industry will bring to the Garden State, and how to succeed in it.

Space is limited and tickets won’t last. Early-bird discounted tickets are currently on sale until Feb. 15, when the price of admission increases from $80 to $110; click here for details.

Confirmed speakers so far:

• Al Harrington, the 16-year NBA vet and Orange native is co-founder and CEO of the multi-state Viola Brands
• Mayor Janice Kovach, of Clinton Township, and president of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities
• Bill Caruso, a partner at Archer Law, is the former executive director of the state Assembly Majority Office, and has shepherded through numerous pieces of landmark legislation.
• Dasheeda Dawson, Cannabis Program supervisor at the City of Portland, Oregon, and founder/CEO of The WeedHead & Company.
• Ed DeVeaux, president of the New Jersey CannaBusiness Assn., and a lobbyist with Burton Trent Public Affairs.
• Jennifer Cabrera, counsel at multi-state cannabis law firm Vicente Sederberg.
• Jackie Cornell, a former New Jersey Health Department principal deputy commissioner, and an executive at 1906, a cannabis edibles company

More speakers will be announced in the coming days. Themes that will be explored during the programmed portion of the conference:

• Timeline for the road ahead as the market opens
• What you need to compete for a license
• How to work with municipalities
• How will social equity work
• Accounting/finance challenges
• What to expect on the federal level

We expect at least 60 minutes of focused networking sessions each day. On our networking “floor” we’ll have eight to 12 roundtables, hosted by sponsors and partners.

• Trichome Analytical, headquartered in Mount Laurel Township, offers the highest standard in accurate, compliant and comprehensive cannabis and industrial hemp testing and consulting services for cultivators, processors, retailers and regulatory agencies.
• Grassi Advisors & Accountants, which has a cannabis arm providing guidance with taxes, securing funding, managing cashflow, among other services.
• Supreme Security Alarms, New Jersey leaders in the security space, providing custom designed, state-of-art systems to protect your business.
• Archer Law, cannabis law attorneys, in conjunction with Archer Public Affairs, are at the forefront of marijuana legalization, helping the public sector and governments grapple with responsible regulations.
• Eaze, a California-based technology platform that connects adult consumers with local licensed retailers for on-demand delivery of legal cannabis products.

Our partners include:

• The New Jersey CannaBusiness Association, the Garden State’s largest trade group, operating as the state’s cannabis chamber of commerce
• The Diversity, Equity & Inclusion division of the National Cannabis Industry Association
• Vicente Sederberg, a national cannabis law firm providing legal and policy services to marijuana and hemp companies, ancillary businesses, investors, governmental bodies, and advocacy organizations.

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