One Year Into New Jersey’s Recreational Marijuana Market, Senate President Eyes Changes—Including Limited Home Grow

New Jersey’s recreational cannabis industry launched one year ago, and Dominic Rivera is nearly $1 million in debt.The Camden man thought his drive-through dispensary would be open by now, but it took 13 months to get the state to OK his application—approval he received just last week. In the meantime, he is nearly finished with construction, has hired nine employees and has spent thousands on electricity for a store that can’t have any customers yet.“We’re happy and excited to start serving our community. But we’ve been paying rent for over a year and haven’t made a penny,” said Rivera, who is still weeks away from opening Organic Farms Dispensary. “It needs to go a little faster because this is people’s livelihoods.”This is a story heard time and time again at monthly meetings of the Cannabis Regulatory Committee, New Jersey’s marijuana regulators. Cannabis entrepreneurs sound off about lost applications, delays without explanations and their unopened stores collecting dust while they shell out for rent and salaries without knowing when they can open.Recreational cannabis sales launched on April 21, 2022, nearly 18 months after voters approved legalizing marijuana. Consumers could finally shop for legal weed, edibles and vapes at 13 dispensaries.One year later, New Jersey has 24 recreational dispensaries, all run by multi-state operators that were first approved to sell medicinal cannabis. More than 1,200 conditional licenses have been awarded for cultivation, manufacturing and retail. About 100 annual licenses have been awarded, including 37 converted from conditional to annual licenses, as of this month.But industry insiders, consumers and even some lawmakers say they expected the Garden State would be further along—more local shops open, better access to capital and transparency from the regulatory body.Dianna Houenou, chairwoman of the commission and a longtime advocate of legalizing marijuana, said the commission has tried to act in a “thoughtful manner.”“What we have done well is approaching the launch of this industry with deliberate intention. Setting up the whole industry has been, and it continues to be, a process, and that’s a process that shouldn’t be rushed into haphazardly,” she said. “We want consumers to understand where they can access recreational cannabis, and we want patients to understand that we have not lost sight of them.”More than $328 million of recreational cannabis was sold from April 21 to Dec. 31, 2022 (figures for 2023 are not yet available). From that, the state has collected more than $20 million in tax revenue.Senate President Nicholas Scutari, a Union County Democrat who championed marijuana legalization, said in an interview that he thought “we would have more to show for” legalization by now, and he is weighing another legislative hearing with the five-person commission (he called one last year before cannabis sales started). He’s also open to proposed legislation that would overhaul the agency, potentially moving its responsibilities to the state Department of Health, he said.To read full article, click here.