The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (NJ-CRC) will host virtual private roundtables to hear from patients, healthcare providers, and business operators about the medical cannabis market.
The number of New Jersey medical cannabis patients peaked at around 130,000 and has gone down to 75,414. However, the same trend has occurred across the state-legal cannabis markets.
The four sessions will be organized by the Commission’s Public Engagement and Education Committee (PEEC), Product Safety, Packaging, and Labeling Committee (PSPLC), and Permitting and Licensing Committee (P&LC). They will be held on September 5, 23, and 25, and October 1, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Commissioner Krista Nash, co-chair of the PEEC, emphasized the significance of these discussions. She said feedback from interested parties in shaping the policies that determine how patients are served in the New Jersey cannabis market is important.
“We want to offer an opportunity for healthcare providers, active patients, federally and non-federally qualified health centers, and operational businesses to express their opinions and share valuable feedback on critical issues related to cannabis regulation and the cannabis industry in New Jersey,” she explained.
NJ-CRC Private Medical Cannabis Virtual Roundtables
The Product Safety, Packaging, and Labeling Committee Roundtable discussion will focus on current purchase limits and elements that may be affecting product prices. It will be held on Thursday, September 5, 2024, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. via Zoom.
The Permitting and Licensing Committee Roundtable discussion will explore the current limits on vertical integration for medicinal cannabis operators and the number of dispensaries each operator is allowed to own.
Those who are vertically integrated are allowed to own three. Most of those licenses are held by large MSOs.
A lot of dispensary owners want more locations. Some are figuring out deals to do so already.
The NJ-CRC also wanted to discuss the potential for personal-use or adult-use recreational cannabis business operators to expand into medicinal cannabis.
That roundtable will be held on Wednesday, September 25, 2024, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. via Zoom.
Caregivers and Access Roundtables
The Permitting and Licensing Committee will also address the challenges of becoming an institutional caregiver and the support needed to simplify access and provide incentives for healthcare providers and institutions to become or facilitate institutional caregivers.
So, two more roundtables will be held over Zoom on Monday, September 23, and Tuesday, October 1, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The NJCRC said it values the expertise and experience of the cannabis community. They also declared themselves committed to incorporating their input into our regulatory practices.
According to them, an invitation is required to attend. Parties interested in participating in the roundtables may submit a request at njcrcgov.info/roundtable24. You can submit your request to attend and register as a patient as part of the categories that include “Healthcare Provider in the Medicinal Cannabis Program, Active Medicinal Cannabis Program Patient, Alternative Treatment Center, New Jersey Department of Health, Public Health Worker, Public Health Institution/Federally Qualified, Public Health Institution/Non Federally Qualified, Other Cannabis Business Operator, Cannabis Business License Awardee.”
Addressing the Medical Cannabis Patient Numbers Decline
To their credit, the NJCRC has tried to make it cheaper to obtain a medical cannabis card.
But the hassle and expense of seeing a doctor to get the card remains.
Doctors also don’t recommend specific strains for treatment or doses. So, seeing them is especially annoying. It can also be expensive since doctors do not accept health insurance to pay for such an appointment due to federal marijuana prohibition despite state cannabis legalization.
Many say this is due to the high price and lower quality of medical products.
In addition, part of the issue is that some advocates say all cannabis is medicine. Thus, a former medical cannabis patient could let their card expire and then go to an adult-use cannabis dispensary. They usually be able to find the specific sort of cannabis they are looking for to treat an issue like anxiety or inflammation.
Quality budtenders at adult-use recreational cannabis dispensaries should be able to help them find what they need.
The NJ-CRC prioritized medical cannabis patient care by demanding some patient-exclusive products, exclusive shop hours, patient-only lines, and convenient parking spaces.
NJ Medical Cannabis Problems
New Jersey’s medical cannabis market has had issues nearly from the start under former Governor Chris Christie (R). He set up the system that allowed a few large cannabis corporations that are Multi-State Operators (MSOs) to dominate the medical cannabis market. Thus, they were able to sell overpriced, mediocre products at the expense of patients.
Former NJ-CRC Executive Director Jeff Brown said more than once these problems would eventually be solved by competition.
Not once has the NJ-CRC publicly contemplated price controls. A bill introduced by State Senator Troy Singleton (D-7) of Burlington County this past spring, 2024, would do just that.
The NJ-CRC, since being set up under Governor Phil Murphy (D), has made progress bit by bit. They have slowly moved away from that model.
It took 21 months to resolve the 2019 license round in 2021 and to start opening more dispensaries and cultivators. The great delay was probably the fault of the COVID-19 pandemic and a lawsuit.
Many eventually started opening a year or more later. But some have told Heady NJ they will likely never open. The problem is due to a lack of capital or money and partnership problems.
Throughout the years, there have been nearly countless allegations by medical cannabis patients of mold. In 2021, there was a recall due to Heady NJ’s investigation.
NJ-CRC issued another recall recently of Green Medicine/ Green Joy products, which had bugs and hair.
(If anyone has documented proof of moldy or very bad legal cannabis, please send documented evidence to info@headynj.com.)
