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New Jersey legal weed will be a $1 billion industry this year, the Cannabis Regulatory Commission says.
“I’m confident we’ll reach and surpass that milestone in 2024,” said CRC Executive Director Jeff Brown said at the commission’s monthly meeting Thursday.
The cannabis industry saw close to $800 million in sales in 2023. The commission this week also announced New Jersey now has 100 dispensaries selling cannabis, something that was touted by Gov Phil Murphy.
“As we continue towards our goals for the cannabis market in New Jersey, I am grateful to the Cannabis Regulatory Commission for their dedicated work and leadership on this critical area of our economy,” Murphy said in a statement.
However, CRC Commissioner Charles Barker warned that much of this growth will likely be be dominated by a chosen few.
“I’m very concerned and it pains me to be here during Black History Month to share through my purview from what I see, our cannabis industry in New Jersey is shaping up to be dominated by businesses whose majority ownership do not reflect those that have been most harmed by the War on Drugs,” Barker said at the meeting.
The commission has issued licenses to diverse populations at a rate that exceeds federal ownership averages for businesses of color. However, that number significantly drops for the businesses that have actually made it to opening day.
One of the major pain points in the industry has been how many businesses of color are making it past the municipal approval process. The CRC does not have the authority to control the municipal approval process, which critics say has been rife with corruption and rigged outcomes.
Some business applicants say the agency should at the least decline to approve licenses that didn’t play by the rules of the ordinances the municipalities had made for themselves.
Applicants have charged that towns violated the official rules of some of their own cannabis licensing ordinances to benefit politically connected and wealthy companies, and that they are doing so with little consequence.
John De Los Santos, a Paterson-based cannabis business applicant, told the CRC on Thursday that his municipality was not following its own ordinances.
“It’s too much to have faith in this municipality any more as a social equity applicant,” he said. “I’ve been bleeding out $20,000 in rent a month.”
Another criticism of how the market is growing has been whether or not medical patients are being left behind as New Jersey still bans home grow of cannabis, including for medical patients who can’t afford dispensary prices that are among the highest in the nation.
Key to Jersey’s $1 billion promise will be manufacturers and cultivators, which are currently in short supply compared to the number of retail applicants. Part of that will be streamlining a review process to address concerns that it takes too long, Brown said.
“Really looking at our internal processes, how we make those efficient as possible, how we make sure we’re serving the public as best we can?” he said.
CRC Commissioner Del Cid-Kosso praised the agency’s work while noting there was more progress to be made.
“It’s not going to change overnight,” she said. “It’s going to take efforts both by the applicants and the state.”
Jelani Gibson is a staff writer for NJ Advance Media and content lead for NJ Cannabis Insider. He may be reached at jgibson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @jelanigibson1 and on LinkedIn.