This senator is determined to get marijuana stores up and running in New Jersey
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On Monday, New Jersey regulators gave the green light for the state’s recreational cannabis market to start.
The Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) approved 34 conditional licenses and agreed for seven of the state’s 10 medical cannabis companies to begin selling, potentially within weeks after a series of setbacks and 17 months after New Jersey residents decided to legalize the use of recreational cannabis in a ballot.
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The process, which was quite frustrating not only for cannabis entrepreneurs like Boris Jordan — the founder and chairman of Curaleaf Holdings, one of the companies that got the green light to sell recreational marijuana — but also for lawmakers like the New Jersey Senate president Nick Scutari (D).
Nick Scutari’s mission
He had previously called delays in launching the state’s legal marijuana market unacceptable and announced his intention to form a special Legislative Committee to study the issue through oversight hearings.
As proponents praise the move and cannabis prohibition finally comes to an end, Scutari still plans to hold cannabis hearings, Heady NJ writes.
“I’m pleased that progress has been made,” said Scutari. “I will move forward with the legislative oversight hearings so we can understand the delays, uncertainties and obstacles that are preventing full implementation of the Cannabis Act. The special committee will participate in a fact-finding process with a problem-solving assignment. We need to find ways to continue expanding medicinal dispensaries into the recreational market and get adult retail facilities up and running.”
Scutari stressed the need to reduce the cost of medical marijuana.
“Affordability and availability must be priorities for medical consumers who rely on cannabis for health reasons,” he added.
The senator also noted that ensuring the “availability of sufficient cannabis to meet the needs of both the medical and recreational markets” is also important.
Can Cannabis Operators Keep Up With Demand?
Interestingly, in late March, state regulators denied requests from eight medical cannabis vendors precisely on the grounds that the state’s cannabis vendors as a whole do not have the capacity to serve the current medical market.
Despite the setbacks, Cantor Fitzgerald’s Pablo Zuanic expects recreational sales to begin in the Garden State in mid-May. He had previously questioned the CRC’s “motivations/intentions and constant delays”.
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Pharmacy owners say they can keep up with demand from both medical and recreational users. During Monday’s commission meeting, one company even said it would keep one of its facilities open for medical cannabis only, writes the New Jersey Monitor.
Still, some of the state’s 130,000 medical marijuana patients are concerned that the market will be overcrowded with those buying recreational marijuana.
“I’m advising people to stock up on their weed now because I expect there will be a rush,” said Peter Rosenfeld, a medical marijuana patient since 2011 and associate with the Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey and New Jersey Cannabis Trade Association.
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“Once the first one is open, medical patients won’t even be able to access it,” Rosenfeld said.
He fears that thirteen pharmacies will not be enough to serve nearly 1 million new consumers. Marijuana dispensaries, so-called alternative treatment centers, all owned by cannabis MSOs, are already facing challenges in keeping up with medical patient demand.
While cannabis advocates and market participants have suggested growing cannabis at home to drive down the price of medicinal cannabis, Scutari “doesn’t see that happening any time soon” as he’s more open to the idea of the industry’s success.
Meanwhile, home-growing cannabis remains a crime in the Garden State, despite the enactment of legalizing adult sale and decriminalizing possession of up to six ounces of cannabis.
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Banking and social justice issues
“There are also banking and social justice issues that should be reviewed,” Scutari said.
As congressional leaders have appointed key lawmakers in recent days to discuss the final form of a large-scale bill that will deal with innovation and manufacturing, there is hope that this will be the means of protecting financial institutions involved with federally legal cannabis businesses work together.
The U.S. House of Representatives formally added an amendment to Rep. Ed Perlmutter’s (D-CO) marijuana banking reform to the COMPETES Act in February.
After his final and sixth attempt to get the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act across the finish line, Perlmutter, who is preparing to retire soon, said he was determined to keep pressuring his Senate peers to make it happen to advance the law.
There have been signs of late that the bipartisan bill could be a focus for negotiators, with Maxine Waters (D-CA), the chair of the House Financial Services Committee, calling the legislation one of her legislative “priorities” on Monday.
With midterm elections looming, the U.S. Senate seems a long way from passing SAFE banking or the social justice-focused MORE Act, and President Joe Biden seems indifferent to marijuana, at least for now.
This article originally appeared on Benzinga and has been republished with permission.
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