The NJ State Police recently arrested a home cannabis gardener in Gloucester County who insisted he has never sold any of it.
Will Only Jr insisted he only had about 12 plants and less than 6 ounces of cannabis flower, which he didn’t intend to sell at home in Woodbury, in Deptford, in Gloucester County.
He is worried and eager for any help the New Jersey cannabis community can provide to fight the charge and avoid jail time.
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“This is like a hobby and something for me to self-medicate and know the weed I smoke is clean!” he declared.
Home cannabis gardening remains a felony in the Garden State.
Arrested by NJ State Police for Marijuana Gardening
Will explained that 20 SWAT Team members came to his door at 5 AM on Friday, July 17, 2026.
“Luckily, they didn’t kick my door in,” he noted.
Will opened it himself. The NJ State Police immediately placed him and his wife under arrest, searched the place, and took plants, flower, and seeds.
“They didn’t ask me any questions about anything,” he noted.
“They took me over to the police barracks in Bellmawr,” Will explained. “I sat for 4 to 5 hours.”
The NJ State Police asked him very little in Bellmawr.
“They found my press machine to press the flower when I make edibles. They asked me what that was for, and that was it,” he noted.
Will has been charged with the 2nd degree crime of manufacturing and maintaining a marijuana growing facility.
Cannabis Home Gardening Versus Commercial Growing
“How is it a ‘grow facility’? It’s a tent!” he exclaimed.
“I wasn’t in here mass-producing anything!” Will declared. “I didn’t have anything bagged up for individual sells.”
“It’s not like they came and found pounds and pounds of cannabis,” he noted.
“I just had one room with a 4 by 8 tent,” Will explained.
He said he had no other drugs or guns.
Will was eager for the State to investigate his finances to see that there was little there.
“They can see there’s no unaccounted money transactions going on. Our pay hits our account, and we pay our bills, and that’s it,” he said.
NJ Home Gardening for Quality Medical Cannabis
Will noted that only 7 to 8 of the 12 plants were likely to ultimate sprout quality flower given the nature of growing.
He insisted he only grows “for me and my wife.”
“I don’t want to go out here and get sprayed packs off the streets,” Will explained.
He also doesn’t like dispensary cannabis.
“If you want decent quality, it costs you an arm and a leg,” Will argued. “We can’t afford that type of expense.”
“For us to have the quality we like, I thought it was more self-sufficient for me to grow it on my own,” he noted.
“By the time that harvest is done, I don’t even have enough for my next harvest,” Will explained. “I still have to go to the dispensary to hold me over.”
He said cannabis helps with sleeping and gaining an appetite.
“My job is pretty demanding. I tend to starve myself throughout the day at work,” Will noted. “My body is hungry, but I don’t have an appetite.”
He said he is a Forklift Operator in Swedesboro.
Figuring Probable Cause of Weed Raid
Notably, he is unaware of the Probable Cause which led to the New Jersey State Police arresting him.
“I don’t know who I pissed off to do this to me. I don’t sell none of my shit,” Will said.
“It’s not like it was constant traffic coming out of my crib for a neighbor to complain,” he added. “I don’t have any problems with my neighbors.”
Will did note he participated in a cannabis home gardening competition held by a shop.
Plus, he does have an Instagram Page featuring flower from his garden. But it doesn’t have his name or personal information.
“It was like a grow diary type of thing. I just show my flower, the process, different stages, for educational purposes,” Will explained.
“I smoke in my house, so it’s constantly going to smell like weed regardless,” he added.
A private home is about the only place you can smoke weed in peace in Jersey.
NJ Marijuana Crackdown Issues
The NJ Attorney General’s office and the NJ State Police did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
NJ Attorney General Jennifer Davenport promised an underground legacy crackdown at her NJ Senate confirmation hearing in January.
Notably, NJ Senate President Nick Scutari (D-22-Union) has hated the idea of legal cannabis home gardening for years. Last fall, he promoted an underground legacy operator crackdown in a bill that was signed by former Governor Phil Murphy (D) in January 2026.
Marijuana selling arrests in New Jersey have been town police-led so far.
