NJ legal weed: 4 predictions for 2024, from better prices to home grow
1. New Jersey will soon be home to more than 100 dispensaries.
New Jersey will close out its first full year of adult use cannabis sales with 90 dispensaries, all but 10 of which are licensed to sell to any adult over 21 years old, and the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission has already issued operating permits to two more dispensaries expected to open in January. Don’t be surprised if, by this time next year, the number of dispensaries in New Jersey has doubled. More than 150 businesses already have annual licenses from the CRC, with nearly 800 more holding conditional licenses, which require further approvals.
And yet, there’s still room to grow.
2. New cannabis cultivators and manufacturers open a new chapter for NJ legal weed
If you’ve been to more than one New Jersey dispensary, you know the drill: While each store might look a little different, they’re largely selling the same products – and often at the same (or a similar) price.
So here’s the prediction: By this time next year, New Jersey cannabis consumers will see double the number of cannabis products on the market (and that’s not including branding partnerships, like TerrAscend growing and manufacturing Cookies-branded products).
3. NJ legal weed prices will fall to a respectable – but maybe not “cheap” – level
The cannabis market follows the same basic rules as any other, notably the age-old concept of supply and demand.
In May 2022, adult-use cannabis cost an average of $455.54 per ounce ($16.27 per gram), according to CRC data. Today, the average ounce costs $366 ($12.49 per gram), a 20% price drop over 18 months. While it’s still among the most expensive legal weed in the country, I don’t think that will last much longer.
Prediction time: By 2025, legal weed prices will drop to a far more affordable level. I think the average price for an eighth-ounce will sit eerily similar to what’s currently the low point.
4. New Jersey will finally pass a home grow law.
Here’s the boldest prediction of this entire list: In 2024, New Jersey will finally adopt a law allowing medical marijuana patients the right to grow cannabis at home.
The state’s medical marijuana patient rolls are plummeting – the 91,000 on the rolls as of Dec. 15 are a 20% drop from a year ago and nearly 30% since recreational sales began. With new adult-use dispensaries opening virtually every week and minimal cannabis taxes, there’s little reason for someone to even register as a patient in the first place.
It would be a huge victory for medical marijuana patient advocates who have long sought home grow as a way to help patients unable to visit a dispensary often and who face significant financial burdens, with health insurance providers declining coverage for cannabis products.
