$250k Thrown Into Garbage: Disabled Combat Veteran Slams NJ Cannabis Commission For Ignoring Her For 2 Painful Years
The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (NJCRC) approved 64 cannabis licenses at its monthly meeting on Wednesday. The commission's executive director Jeff Brown talked about license prioritization by category, assessment methodology and scoring, writes HeadyNj.
"New businesses continue to open. There are now more than 100 cannabis dispensaries open," Brown said. "We're starting to see new cultivators open up, new manufacturers open up."
As of March, 8 there were 219 operating licenses issued. Being Women's History Month, Brown wanted a count of women-owned cannabis businesses in the state. NJCRC director of Diversity and Inclusion Wesley McWhite III showed a slide with that info.
"New Jersey can stand tall with 36 percent of our licenses being awarded to women," McWhite said.
“What A Shame, Says Disabled Veteran Waiting For A License”
However, not everyone was pleased with the data. One annual license applicant, Aylyza Brevard-Rodriguez, Ph.D. of The Other Side Dispensary in Jersey City pleaded with the commission not to forget small minority business owners in its licensing process. Brevard-Rodriguez is the leader of multiple brands and host of a leading industry podcast, "Coffee and Cannabis."
“Good afternoon, my name is Dr. Brevard-Rodriguez and I am the founder of a future cannabis dispensary and consumption lounge called The Other Side," said Brevard-Rodriguez who holds a Ph.D. Leadership Management and Policy.
“Yesterday, I received a personal courtesy call to be advised that I would not be awarded today, but that my comments were ‘welcomed,'” Brevard-Rodriguez continued. “I thought how ironic that the CRC had time to cross-reference their emails with the speaker list but didn’t have time to rush an already overdue application that was found to have zero discrepancies…from a 10-year military veteran."
A decorated combat-disabled veteran, she pointed out the irony of regulators awarding out-of-state businesses with grants, "but we weren’t found good enough for that either. So I can be glorified as the most diverse applicant but apparently not good enough to be awarded a grant, a license, or receive any state assistance at this point. However, we are good enough to be a marker on your data set every month."
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