New Jersey State Senate President Nick Scutari (D-Dist. 22) is forming a special legislative committee he said would review legal marijuana sales delays.
“These delays are totally unacceptable,” said Scutari, who introduced the state’s medical and recreational cannabis laws. “We need to get the legal marijuana market up and running in New Jersey. This has become a failure to follow through on the public mandate and to meet the expectations for new businesses and consumers.”
Scutari said the panel seeks explanations regarding repeated delays in expanding medical dispensaries to sell recreational marijuana and opening retail facilities for adult-use cannabis.
During a public session on March 24, the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) approved 68 conditional license applications for recreational cannabis cultivators and manufacturers. The conditional licenses represent the first recreational cannabis business applications approved in New Jersey.
Additionally, 60 of the approved applications are for cultivation facilities, and the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission is slated to conduct its session on April 11.
According to Scutari, the Cannabis Regulatory Commission missed its deadline for allowing the Alternative Treatment Centers to sell to the recreational market, and the process of licensing growers, distributors, and retailers to serve the adult-use market has experienced repeated delays.
The legislator indicated the hearing panel would receive an accounting from CRC personnel and input from cannabis business operators, those waiting to get licensed, and others involved in the legal marijuana market.