Recreational cannabis stores in New Jersey open to long lines and cheering on customers
Opening Day is here: On Thursday, April 21, New Jersey marijuana stores will begin selling to all adults 21 and older, marking the end of Prohibition and the beginning of a new legal era.
Gazette Editors Calvin Stovall and Bruce Barcott are in NJ for the big event. They will partner with writers who are submitting reports from businesses across the state. We will update this page hourly with photos, quotes, stories and highlights of a historic day.
6 am: Melissa Correa makes her first purchase in Bloomfield
First at the RISE store in Bloomfield, NJ was Melissa Correa, 42, who was from Plainfield. She waited the wee hours to enter the store at 6:00 this morning.
First buyer: “I’ve been picturing this day for 25 years”
Melissa Correa didn’t expect to be the first adult to buy legal weed in New Jersey, but the lifelong smoker was happy to announce that this morning (May 21)
“It’s a historic day here in New Jersey,” Correa told Leafly just minutes before stepping inside the doors of RISE’s Bloomfield pharmacy. “I’ve been trying to imagine that day for at least 25 years,” Correa said. “I’m 42 years old and I took a train for the first time when I was 13.”
“There were some legal issues in my youth and early adult years,” explains Correa. “So it’s going to feel good to walk out here knowing that it’s all behind me and that it’s all going to be behind everyone else.”
Just moments away from her state’s first legal marijuana purchase, it still seemed like a dream. “It won’t feel real until I walk through those doors,” she added.
Time to LIFT and shine
Correa led an eager crowd of consumers beating the sun to RISE’s Bloomfield pharmacy in the early hours of April 21st. The early risers got the bud first on opening day thanks to Ben Kovler, CEO and Chairman of Green Thumb Industries (GTI). GTI is one of seven vertically integrated medical cannabis providers licensed by the state to open doors to all adults, while the CRC reviews rec-license apps from smaller companies.
“I’m an early riser, (so) we’re open at six,” Kovler told Leafly. “There are hundreds of people lined up who want the product, so we’re happy to get it to them legally and on time.”
End of Prohibition 2.0
Ben Kovler, the chairman and CEO of Green Thumb Industries, which operates the RISE stores in Bloomfield and Paterson, marked the day: “It’s a huge event,” he told the Associated Press. “It’s a moment when ban 2.0 is lifted.”
Salute to NJ Weedman
The New Jersey cannabis pioneer marked April 20 yesterday by dropping an NFT. Find out more about Ed Forchion in this profile that Leafly ran in 2016.
Jon Bong Jovi? Not bad not bad…
Stephen Colbert went last night on April 20th. and New Jersey’s opening day on The Late Show, offering a slew of New Jersey-centric flavor names and a not-too-subtle crispy rice cap for its fabulous Americone Dream ice cream, courtesy of Ben & Jerry’s.
It’s called progress
I will never forget when I was arrested in NJ for owning less than ONE GRAM of weed. I lost my job as a result, was restricted from travel, was on a year’s probation, and had to pay $1,000 in fees. Times have definitely changed 😭😭
— kris. (@scorpioshawty4) April 20, 2022
Long lines: an opening day tradition
New Jersey’s opening day
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