New Jersey regulator grilled at hearing over slow adoption of adult weed

New Jersey’s top cannabis regulator faced tough questions Thursday during a marathon hearing into the often-delayed launch of the state’s adult cannabis program.

Jeff Brown, executive director of the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee during a hearing that reportedly lasted five hours.

The hearing came less than a month after recreational cannabis sales began in the Garden State, a start marked by delay after delay.

The difficult start prompted Nicholas Scutari, the President of the New Jersey State Senate, to call the hearings back in March.

“I’m confident that if we didn’t start this process, the adult cannabis market in New Jersey still wouldn’t be open,” Scutari, a Democrat who has been pushing for cannabis legalization for years, said at Thursday’s hearing, How quoted from NJ.com.

“Industry leaders and marijuana advocates” also attended the hearing [who] discussed the pace of building the Garden State’s recreational market, examined pricing issues, and fretted over unwritten rules for employers seeking clarity about when they can and can’t discipline employees who use cannabis,” according to the New Jersey Monitor.

NJ.com reported that Wesley McWhite, the director of diversity and inclusion for the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission, also testified with Brown.

Sales of legal adult-use cannabis began last month in New Jersey, attracting more than 12,000 customers who generated nearly $1.9 million in first-day sales.

But that grand opening came after the state delayed the launch.

In February, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said the state would hopefully be “within weeks” from its first sales for adult use.

But in March, the Cannabis Regulatory Commission postponed the planned start of sales after deciding not to issue licenses to several would-be dispensaries.

“We may not be 100 percent there today, but I assure you we will make it,” Brown said after that delay. “There are a few things we need to address and if we do address them, I look forward to returning to this panel with another update.”

That was the last straw for Scutari, who said at the time that he planned to hold special hearings on the legislation to investigate the delays.

“These delays are totally unacceptable,” Scutari said in a statement at the time. “We need to get the legal marijuana market up and running in New Jersey. This has become a failure to deliver on the public mission and meet the expectations of new businesses and consumers.”

Calling for the hearings, Scutari said he wanted “clarifications on the repeated delays in the expansion of medical dispensaries to sell recreational marijuana and the opening of retail cannabis facilities for adult use” and “what can be done.” to meet the demand and reduce the cost of medical marijuana.”

On Thursday, according to NJ.com, Brown said “that the CRC delayed issuing licenses in March due to concerns that there would not be enough marijuana available for both the medical and recreational markets.”

The New Jersey Monitor reported that the “edibles shortage in the Garden State was also an issue Thursday,” noting that “people can find flowers, oils that can be vaporized or ingested, and limited gummies” in pharmacies.

According to the publication, “Edibles like cookies and brownies aren’t allowed under current law, Brown noted, and any change to that would need legislature approval.”

“There are opportunities to purchase and consume supplements and we hope to expand these in the future. I don’t have a specific schedule,” Brown said, as quoted by the Monitor.

According to the monitor, Scutari replied, “I’ll call you.”