No specific date on when legal weed sales will begin in NJ, says state cannabis panel

EDITOR’S NOTE: NJ Cannabis Insider is hosting a one-day conference and networking event on March 16 at the Carteret Performing Arts Center, featuring many of the state’s influencers. Tickets are limited.

The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission is ready to begin approving applications from alternative treatment centers to begin selling adult recreational cannabis as early as next month.

The board said at its Thursday hearing that it hoped to complete review of the nominations by March 15 and vote on their approval at its next meeting on March 24.

But the panel failed to commit to a firm date for the start of sales of the recreational weed in New Jersey.

“Again, we are not committed to any expansion date or otherwise,” commission spokeswoman Toni-Anne Blake told NJ Advance Media on Friday. “By law, the (New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission) is required to provide a date when sales can begin. This date has not yet been communicated. »

Earlier this week, Governor Phil Murphy said he hoped cannabis sales would start “within weeks.” The governor’s remarks came after the state missed a self-imposed deadline on Tuesday – a year from the date the governor signed landmark legislation to legalize bad sales. herbs for adults 21 and older.

The commission’s executive director, Jeff Brown, told Thursday’s monthly hearing that he hopes to complete the review of applications from eight existing alternative treatment centers to sell to the adult cannabis market by March 15. These centers currently only serve medical marijuana patients.

Five of the eight applicants have submitted the required documents, Brown said, and those five will now be reviewed under the supply and patient access standards under the new cannabis law.

The commission is awaiting completed applications from the other three alternative treatment centres.

“We’re making tremendous progress,” Brown said during Thursday’s hearing. “We are really at an important crossroads here.”

Brown added on Friday, “As I shared at yesterday’s meeting, I am very optimistic about the progress being made to open up the legal cannabis market in New Jersey. Beginning retail sales in a fair, safe and and speed remains CRC’s core commitment and we are getting closer to our goal every day.

Brown said the CRC has 90 days to review a request.

“Ninety days is March 15,” Brown said of applications to alternative treatment centers. “Hopefully we get close.”

Cannabis lawyer Charles Gormally of Roseland-based Brach Eichler said he believes sales could begin immediately after the application for an alternative treatment center is approved.

“If the expansion is approved at the CRC meeting on March 24, I expect sales to begin almost immediately,” Gormally said in an email Friday to NJ Advance Media.

“The CRC may have site-specific concerns about certain ATCs and inspect those operations before allowing sales for adult use, which could lead to delays. In every other state that has embraced adult cannabis, demand was high, lines were long, and supply was tight.

On Wednesday night, Murphy said he hoped for action soon.

“If I were to predict, we’re a few weeks away – hopefully March – you’d see an implicit move on medical dispensaries, some of them being able to sell hobbies,” Murphy said. said during an appearance on WBGO in Newark.

New Jersey voters overwhelmingly approved of recreational marijuana in November 2020 by a 2-to-1 margin.

The hiccup in crafting the final legislation took several more months, with Murphy finally signing the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Enforcement Assistance and Market Modernization Act on February 22, 2021.

But a year later, the market has still not opened.

The commission is required by law to vote at a public meeting to approve applications for the sale of weed for adult use.

No candidacies were voted on Thursday.

Blake did not respond on Friday when asked if alternative treatment centers could start selling immediately after the board approved applications, or if they had to wait longer for an official launch date.

In addition to applications for expansion of alternative processing centers, Brown said 363 applications were received, 314 for conditional licenses and 49 for annual licenses.

“We’re going to beat that 90-day mark, especially on these conditional licenses,” Brown said.

Extended certifications for alternative treatment centers do not have to go through the normal application process.

They just need to prove they can supply the patient and leisure markets and have sufficient municipal membership, Brown said.

At last month’s hearing, Brown said most applications for alternative treatment centers were incomplete and lacked proper municipal approvals.

Local officials must attest in writing that they support alternative treatment centers – growers and sellers of medical marijuana in their communities – to have permission to sell the product for recreational use.

As a result, the panel missed the self-imposed Feb. 22 deadline to open the market for adult-use cannabis sales.

The delay has been particularly agonizing for alternative treatment centers, most of which have added staff and facilities, in anticipation of also serving the adult recreational market.

Executives of at least two ATCs told NJ Advance Media last month that they were planning layoffs and had to destroy products as their coffers were chock-full of rotting cannabis. Representatives said their centers have dramatically increased production to also sell to the recreational market.

Murphy said on his radio show Wednesday that the entire marijuana legalization process in New Jersey has taken longer than expected.

But, said the Democrat, it is “better to be right than fast.”

On Thursday, the council also announced three public hearings, all virtual, on how best to use tax revenue to help communities. Hearings will be March 2 for northern New Jersey; March 9 for central Jersey; and March 16 for South Jersey.

A universal symbol for cannabis items has also been announced – which is the cannabis leaf as a product imprint on all products, and the second is for labeling and packaging – with a hand in front of a stop sign and the cannabis leaf with the warning, “Not safe for children.

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Suzette Parmley can be attached to [email protected] or follow her on Twitter: @SuzParmley