NJ Senate President Nick Scutari (D-22-Union) recently introduced a bill to improve the New Jersey medical cannabis licensing process.
Allowing Medical Dispensaries and Conversion to Rec Sales in More Towns
Scutari’s bill seems to make it easier to open a medical cannabis dispensary and decrease the power of towns opposing them.
“Under the bill, a municipality may not prohibit the operation of a retailer of cannabis items by any medical cannabis dispensary … that has been opened and operating without any violation, or notice thereof, for a period of not less than 180 days,” it says.
“A restriction on the number or location of cannabis licensees operating in a municipality does not apply to any medicinal cannabis retailer operating,” it says.
The bill prohibits the NJ Cannabis Regulatory Commission (NJ-CRC) from requiring municipal approval as a condition of conversion to include adult-use recreational sales.
It remains unclear whether towns could still prevent the medical dispensaries from converting to include recreational adult-use cannabis sales.
Towns have a lot of power in New Jersey, unfortunately, which has prevented many worthy cannabis entrepreneurs from opening.
Selling Medical Cannabis Products in the Rec Market Made Easier
Scutari also wants to make it easier to sell medical cannabis products in the adult-use market.
The bill “permits (medical cannabis Alternative Treatment Centers) ATCs to redesignate products as either medical or adult-use cannabis at any point in its supply chain, provided that the ATC holds the appropriate license at the point of redesignation.”
Dispensaries just need to make sure they have enough supply.
Bill Cuts Cannabis Licensing Red Tape
The bill wants the NJ Cannabis Regulatory Commission (NJ-CRC) to make quicker application decisions.
“If the commission determines that more time is required to adequately review an application, the commission shall, not more than 30 days after a determination for more time for review, make a determination as to whether the application is approved or denied.”
Also, the NJ-CRC will no longer use a point scale and rank applicants based on that score. The bill also decreases the amount of paperwork that needs to be included in an application.
The bill also wants to change how applications are evaluated.
It says that “the commission shall afford the greatest weight to responses pertaining to the applicant itself, controlling owners, and entities with common ownership or control with the applicant; followed by those with a 15 percent or greater ownership interest in the applicant’s organization. Followed by significantly involved persons in the applicant’s organization; followed by other officers, directors, and current and prospective employees of the applicant who have a bona fide relationship with the applicant’s organization as of the date of the application.”
They also want to encourage family businesses.
“This bill prohibits the commission from prohibiting a family member, other than a spouse, of a license applicant or license holder from also becoming a license applicant or license holder.”
NJ-CRC To Create Town Cannabis Law Database
Currently, there’s no way to easily find the details of town pro-cannabis laws and programs in New Jersey.
So, “the bill requires the commission to create and maintain an online portal. The online portal is required to maintain a centralized municipal portal that includes any ordinance or regulation related to the medical or adult-use cannabis markets that a municipality has adopted in this State.”
Towns will be required to send updates of their laws and regulations to the NJ-CRC to be maintained in their public database.
NJ Cannabis Issues to Address
The NJ Cannabis Regulatory Commission (NJ-CRC) has been plagued by criticism over slowness.
Former Executive Jeff Brown said at a legislative hearing in 2023 that they had about 81 staffers then after starting with about 21 staffers in 2021. He added they aimed to employ about 130.
So, the NJ-CRC has hired a class of Investigators who are the point of contact for applicants. According to rumors, they vary greatly.
It’s difficult for entrepreneurs who apply for NJ cannabis licenses to pay a lot for a building for months and not open. Many reported waiting without knowing when the wait would end for months. Some small business owners say they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to apply and pay rent on a place.
Heady NJ has heard from applicants the speed has increased over time.
Since getting town approval, land, and raising money are so hard, the number of applications has decreased too.
Only about a third of NJ towns allow any licensed cannabis company to operate.
There are about 205 licensed dispensaries open with many cultivators and manufacturers humming along. But more than a thousand conditional license applicants are still struggling to open.
NJ Senate Politics and Weed
Usually, when a bill is introduced, there’s a good chance it won’t pass.
For now, Scutari is the only Senate sponsor of this bill, and there is no Assembly sponsor either.
A lot of bills, like home grow legalization, never even get an informational hearing to discuss it.
However, as New Jersey Senate President, NS has more power to make a bill become law than other lawmakers.
But towns and their lobbyists might push back.
Scutari seems to continue enjoying being the Godfather of the NJ Cannabis industry. However, he continues to oppose home grow legalization, which remains a felony.
