Lawmaker wants to allow state officials to cap prices on medical marijuana

State officials have stressed that they agree with medical marijuana patients who say the price of cannabis in New Jersey remains too expensive — but the officials say their hands are tied by the law, which gives them no control over prices set by dispensaries.

One lawmaker is looking across the Delaware River at what Pennsylvania has done — including a provision in its medical marijuana law allowing state cannabis officials to implement price caps if cannabis prices become “unreasonable or excessive.”

Sen. Troy Singleton wants to use Pennsylvania’s statute as a model, introducing a bill in March that would allow the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission to set price caps on medical cannabis cultivators, manufacturers, or dispensaries if they’re selling their products at a price that is “unreasonable and inconsistent” with their actual costs. The commission would be allowed to cap prices for six-month intervals.

Singleton (D-Burlington), who called the price of weed in New Jersey “very concerning for many people utilizing medical cannabis,” said capping prices could put pressure on the market and lead to lower prices.

Chris Goldstein is a marijuana advocate who tracks cannabis prices in New Jersey and Pennsylvania dispensaries.

“It’s very similar to how pharmaceutical drugs and other commodities are sold. When large corporations are given the chance, they will be greedy,” he said. “Unfortunately, we’ve been sold the same promises for almost 13 years that prices would come down, and there was more competition and more businesses, but the same businesses have been here the whole time, and prices remain remarkably similar.”

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