Cannabis sales in New Jersey are set to begin soon as the panel holds a historic vote — for real this time
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New Jersey’s long-awaited launch of its recreational cannabis market just got the green light. Regulators agreed to allow seven medical marijuana stores to start selling, potentially within weeks after a series of disappointing setbacks and 17 months since cannabis was legalized in a ballot box referendum.
The five-member Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) has been under increasing political pressure to launch the state’s recreational cannabis market. Finally, on Monday, the board voted to allow seven of the state’s 10 medical cannabis companies to begin selling.
Photo by Howard Kingsnorth/Getty Images
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Jeff Brown, the commission’s executive director, said at a special session that the medical marijuana companies known as alternative treatment centers, or ATCs, had presented compelling evidence that they were ready for recreational sales.
“Over the course of the last year, we’ve achieved many milestones, and all of them have strengthened us to get to this point,” Brown said. “We see no market-wide concerns about moving these ATCs forward.”
When the CRC met in late March and deferred and denied eight applications from medical marijuana dispensaries, tempers erupted and disappointment was great.
Treatment centers owned by operators in multiple states that have been given the green light include Acreage Holdings, Ascend Wellness, AYR Wellness, Columbia Care, Curaleaf, Green Thumb, TerrAscend, and Verano Holdings, all of whom have shown keen interest Start selling in the Garden State.
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The approved centers and their satellite stores will be the only facilities initially selling cannabis for both the medical and recreational markets in the Garden State until smaller growers who have been granted conditional board approval can get their operations up and running. reported NJ.com
This article originally appeared on Benzinga and has been republished with permission.
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