New Jersey’s infused/intoxicating hemp flower ban in CBD stores, smoke shops, convenience stores, and gas stations begins today, April 13, 2026.
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All hemp products, excluding beverages, are limited to 0.4 mg of THC, and no hemp plant materials can have more than 0.3 mg of THC.
New Jersey’s complicated hemp law was recently amended and passed the NJ Senate before being signed into law by Governor Mikie Sherrill (D).
Notably, liquor stores will be able to sell THC drinks until November 13, 2026.
The NJ Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) has launched a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on the subject on their website.
Heady NJ has already noticed that it has affected conscientious CBD shops. A CBD store/smoke shop called Legal Leaf announced on Instagram that it has closed. It’s not the only one. Several quality shops will no longer be able to sell therapeutic products.
Some hemp businesspeople might want to get into the NJ cannabis industry. But it can be very difficult to do so successfully. The business of seeking a license from the NJ-CRC is very difficult due to town laws on who they allow where. The often small area where they allow cannabis companies is known as a Green Zone.
A crackdown has already begun in the very pro-cannabis city of Jersey City, among other places.
NJ Hemp Ban Opposition
Thomas Norcia of the NJ Hemp Growers Association and Grow Works NJ, and the native American Chief Vincent Mann, who has a CBD store, have been vocal on hemp issues in the NJ State House and at CRC meetings. They feel it will negatively affect their operations, even if that is not the intention of the law.
UPDATED: “This is a major blow to the Hemp business licensed by the NJ Department of Agriculture. We were never allowed to handle intoxicating hemp. We weren’t operating under the Farm Bill loophole that gas stations and smoke shops were. The Hemp program is more regulated than the adult-use program,” Norcia told Heady NJ.
“We agree gas stations and certain smokeshops sell garbage and need to be regulated. But not at the expense of the hemp program licenses that were 100% compliant since 2020, 2 years before adult-use started.
At this point, we’re licensed to grow hemp, but we can’t sell it to anyone,” he added.
“Anyone that relies on full-spectrum CBD now has to travel out of state, or order it from out of state.
Bad parenting is why children get into cannabis. Bad policy is why there is no access to full-spectrum CBD in the Garden State,” Norica argued.
He has said before that the crackdown has already driven people from the industry.
Others have been eager to fight it. Some cannabis manufacturers have been making infused hemp products as well. For example, edibles manufacturer ButACake CEO Matha Figaro is among those who did so. So she has been vocal on the issue.
NJ Backlash
Many cannabis dispensary owners and their supporters will be happy about this. They do not like the competition from smoke shops. Many dispensary owners are often struggling to stay open between those who hate marijuana and those who hate that the legal NJ cannabis industry is dominated by shady corporations that are Multi-State Operators (MSOs).
Some of them seemed to revel in employing traditional anti-marijuana witch hunt rhetoric, blaming the State for being an insufficient helicopter parent. Anti-marijuana advocates also revel in using such rhetoric against dispensaries.
The NJ Canna Business Association (NJCBA) has been pushing for NJ hemp regulations for some time, along with a range of cannabis industry advocates, cops, and cop lovers.
Moderates and conservatives who enjoy Law and Order should be happy. They might enjoy a backlash and a witch hunt against cannabis that Heady NJ would not.
Notably, smoke shops often don’t have to deal with costly red tape that many independent dispensary owners have to in order to open and stay in business. This has caused a lot of hostility among cannabis company owners and their supporters. Many often had to spend a minimum of $500,000 to open their doors, if not millions.
Closing the Federal Intoxicating/Infused Hemp Loophole
New Jersey has tried to do this for a while. They passed a law in 2024 banning infused hemp that was signed by then-Governor Phil Murphy (D).
Because of the process to alter it, more traditional cannabis experts and lovers believe that a lot of infused hemp flower is synthetic. The CRC sought to address that in 2024 after the law passed.
But there were issues in enforcing it due to the federal hemp loophole, which led to a spirited and complicated lawsuit. However, President Donald Trump (R) signed a bill ending the infused hemp loophole in November 2026.
The 2018 Farm Bill banned hemp with more than .03 mg of Delta-9 THC. However, enterprising scientists were able to change the flower to get you high. They found that through the inclusion of Delta-8 THC and a range of other cannabinoids unknown to lawmakers at the time, they could get people high. The 2025 Farm Bill ended that.
However, Trump is backing a plan to provide medical CBD products to those on Medicare via the CMS under US Health and Human Services Secretary Bobby Kennedy Jr.
But a large corporation is suing to stop that. Seems they feel they got cut out of the hustle.
A lot of smoke shops have been selling THCA flower. But technically, cannabis flower has no THC until it is burned. It is known as decarboxylation. So, a lot of flower sold by licensed NJ dispensaries is also THCA flower.
