It’s been about six weeks since New Jersey legalized adult-use cannabis and voted “YES” on Question 1. This week, at the statehouse in Trenton, New Jersey legislatures finally approved the bill launch (and regulate) the state’s adult-use market. Pending Governor Phil Murphy’s approval and signature, a practical formality, the Garden State will be set to become the next U.S. state with an adult-use market in 2021.

So what will adult use look like, and what issues remain to be hashed out in New Jersey before folks can start buying in stores? Let’s take a look and check in on New Jersey adult-use cannabis.

What New Jersey Adult-use Cannabis will look like

While lawmakers continue to refine a few matters –parsing out available licenses being one of them, what to do with 2019’s medical licensing round being another– the NJ legal cannabis market is beginning to take shape. Here’s what you need to know so far.

• New Jersey adult use will have six licensing categories:
  • Retailer
  • Wholesaler
  • Cultivator
  • Manufacturer
  • Transporter
  • Distributor
• The 12 licensees with previously awarded medical licenses are eligible for adult-use licenses, but how those licenses are to be awarded still needs to be hashed out.
• Cultivation licenses, for the first 24 months, will be capped at 37. This does not include anyone anyone with a microbusiness licenses (micros can grow up to 2,500 sq. feet).
• The still-to-be-named Cannabis Regulatory Commission will determine how many licenses in total the initial adult-use application cycle contains.
• Whatever the license maximum is determined to be by CRC, the agency will be defining competitive applications by such criteria as:
  • Operating plans
  • Environmental plans
  • Security plans
  • With additional consideration for minorities (women, people of color, disabled veterans).
• Along those same lines, “impact zones” will be drawn up. An impact zone will be a region that’s been adversely impacted by the war on drugs, impoverishment, or high unemployment factors. CRC will be doing everything within its power to award 25% of licenses to applicants from such designated zones, or who plan on employing at least 25% of their workforce from those regions.
• Intriguingly, all past municipal prohibitions will be rendered null and void. Upon enactment any town or city that wants to continue a prohibition will have 180 days to implement such a ban. This is very interesting considering the havoc that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on town tax coffers across the country. New Jersey, of course, was hit hard in the spring of 2020 upon the first pandemic wave, and is now, like the rest of U.S. enduring another wave this winter.
• Sales tax for adult-use cannabis in New Jersey will be 7%.
• Municipalities that do not opt out, will have the option to implement a local tax of up to 2%.

New Jersey Adult-use Cannabis: It finally happened, but it’s not done

For me, the MMLG blogger, legalization in NJ had become something of a  cryptid along the lines of the Jersey Devil. Having been counting down the days (and covering every false start) for New Jersey legalization since 2018, we began to have our doubts on legalization, much as we doubt the Jersey Devil/Bigfoot. But folks, they did it. It took a pandemic and two years, but they did it.

However, we’re not expecting the most expedient of timelines when it comes to applications opening up. We anticipate pre-existing medical licensees getting things going, but even those fortunate ones will have to prove to the state that they have the supply to meet the demands of medical consumers, before stocking shelves of adult-use retail store. Additionally, with the ongoing Covid pandemic, as you’ve surely noticed by now, things tend to be delayed. So celebrate the news, but understand that New Jersey’s still got a ways to go. With that being said, contact MMLG if you have any questions on New Jersey. In the meantime, if you’re interested: consider applying in Detroit!