[[{“value”:”
The NJ Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on a bill recriminalizing marijuana possession and cracking down on underground legacy operators.
“People are still selling… cannabis or marijuana illegally. Shocking right? It’s not just brick-and-mortar stores. That’s a new problem,” NJ Senate President Nick Scutari (D-22-Union) “…This state is doing nothing about it, and we need to do something…”
He explained that the underground market often has more affordable prices than legal dispensaries.
“It is time for us to put in writing that you cannot buy illegal products. You can’t sell it. You can’t do it without a license,” Scutari exclaimed.
President Donald Trump (R) is also eager to roll back social justice progress.
He noted that many dispensaries are struggling financially.
“I’m open-minded to making changes. But establishing crimes of selling and even in some cases purchasing marijuana is necessary in order to drive people to a place where they can buy it legally,” he exclaimed.
“I agree with the Senate President,” State Senator Joe Lagana (D-38-Bergen) said. “Everyone is selling cannabis in some variation of cannabis.”
“One of the items the Treasury put forward was raising the tax on cannabis…,” State Senator Paul Sarlo (D-36-Bergen) said. “I voted against legalization and was against it from day 1.”
“I’m aware,” Scutari joked.
“…We’ve literally taken the free enterprise system out of the regulated market because we’ve limited the amount of competition to a large measure…,” Senator Troy Singleton (D-7-Burlington) explained.
“We should have a real holistic conversation around the industry as a whole and the pricing practices around the corporate aspect of it,” he added.
“It is a double edge though for those of us who may have seen law enforcement through a different prism…,” Singelton explained. “We don’t want to handcuff anyone from doing their job.”
He argued that overzealous cops should be held accountable too.
“I think something has to be done,” Scutari declared. “None of us are going to benefit from a collapse of the legal market. And that’s coming.”
“If the Attorney General’s office isn’t going to do anything, we have to take steps…,” he argued.
“We should pass a resolution at least advising both prosecutors and the Attorney General’s office that you should enforce the law. Or ask the Attorney General to come here,” State Senator Jon Bramnick (R-21-Union) said.
“I don’t think they’re as crystal clear as we are in terms of the illegality of operating without a license and what the penalties are,” Scutari said.
Lagana noted New York has tried to crack down on underground legacy operators.
“People are getting confused,” he added.
Lagana noted that large liquor stores are selling hemp THC seltzers.
Singelton noted that people with the MSO TerrAscend and Pure Blossom dispensary were for the bill.
He said the NJ Homegrow Coalition, ACLU-NJ, NJ Harm Reduction Coalition, NJ Policy Perspective, the Alliance for Immigrant Justice, and the Wind of the Spirit were officially opposed.
“This method is the wrong approach,” leading cannabis advocate Bill Caruso of the NJ CannaBusiness Association (NJCBA) argued.
“Our problem isn’t the legacy market,” he argued. “It is the problem of the regulation of storefronts that should not exist.”
Several underground legacy operators have noted that convenience store owners who didn’t sell weed before got into the game recently.
“The Congress has failed you and failed our State by allowing intoxicating hemp,” Caruso argued.
He noted that they passed a bill banning intoxicating hemp, which Governor Phil Murphy signed.*
“That law is still not being implemented today,” Caruso said.
He argued that there is no clear guidance on shutting down a smoke shop that sells bad hemp products that harm someone.
“I don’t think we need to go backward in terms of recriminalizing, particularly consumers,” Caruso said.
“Police departments and prosecutors want to go after these bad actors, but are not getting clear guidance from the Attorney General’s office?” State Senator Vin Gopal (D-11-Monmouth) asked.
“There are mayors that are talking about drafting their own ordinances to basically go after this and let the courts decide,” Caruso replied.
He said the NJ Cannabis Regulatory Commission (NJCRC) also needs guidance from the Attorney General on what they should be doing.
“It’s almost like a joke at this point,” Lagana noted about the popularity of selling intoxicating hemp.
Caruso said that confiscation and fines without arrests would be an effective way to crack down.
Lagana said that could work.
“We tried to correct years of inequity,” he noted. “It’s almost disgraceful we allowed for social equity licenses to go to people who needed it, and at the same time… you need millions…”
Caruso noted access to capital is difficult due to federal marijuana prohibition. He noted efforts by the NJ-EDA Economic Development Authority (EDA) to address that.
“In 2021, New Jersey made the promise to end the injustice of cannabis probation to stop needless arrests and give patients and marginalized communities a fair chance in a new legal marketplace,” Coalition of Medical Marijuana NJ (CMMNJ) patient advocate Michael Brennan said. “But today, that promise is on the verge of being broken.”
“This bill is, in fact, a direct attack on patients, poor people, and communities already devastated by discriminatory drug policy,” he declared.
“New Jersey’s dispensary model is overpriced, overregulated, and under-performing. Patients are routinely charged $400 an ounce or more,” Brennan added.
“We have no legal alternatives,” he argued. “We may be once again treated as criminals for seeking relief.”
“That promise of social justice reform is null and void if we start those arrests back up again,” Baked by the River dispensary Co-founder Jesse Marie Villars exclaimed.
“As a licensed business owner, this is not what we need,” she noted. “Let’s find ways we can improve the regulated market so we can complete. Let’s create testing standards in the regulated market that consumers can actually trust.”
Villars was also against cannabis tax increases.
“Our legal operators are going to be out of business. They cannot compete,” Trenton Law Director Wes Bridges declared.
So, they are for an underground legacy operator crackdown.
“We’re losing the revenue. We’re losing the opportunity for redevelopment,” he argued.
Bridges was against recriminalizing individual possession.
Trichome Analytical lab CEO Kristen Gooede said the problem is that there is no intoxicating hemp store license. She wanted the Department of Agriculture to handle that.
“}]] Breaking NJ Cannabis News Read More
