Image credit: Alyson Martin

New Jersey’s Medical Cannabis Industry Expands, Again, Ahead of Adult Use Launch

Since October, ahead of the opening of the adult use license application window on December 15, New Jersey regulators have awarded 44 new medical cannabis licenses.

Dec 9, 2021 6:55AM EST New Jersey

Alyson Martin @alysonrmartin

Co-founder of Cannabis Wire.

The size of New Jersey’s medical cannabis industry grew again this week. On Tuesday, cannabis regulators approved 30 new medical cannabis retail licenses ahead of the launch of adult use sales.

The expansion is more of a release of a logjam than a new move. The 30 companies first applied in 2019, but applications were held up “due to a court-ordered stay,” the Cannabis Regulatory Commission noted.

“The intent in 2019 had been to award 15 dispensaries but based on our assessment of patients’ access to medicine in the New Jersey market – considering price and location – we believe that would be inadequate,” Jeff Brown, the executive director of the Commission, said in a statement. “The number of registered patients go up every month and we are charged by the statute to meet that need.”

The approved companies will be split by region, with 10 each in the southern, central, and northern areas. The Commission’s vote on Tuesday comes after a similar vote in October, during which it awarded 14 cultivation and vertically-integrated permits, as Cannabis Wire reported.

Medical cannabis licensees are well-positioned to expand into the forthcoming adult use market. New Jersey voters approved adult use at the ballot box in November 2020, and Gov. Phil Murphy signed the legislative framework for adult use into law in early 2021. (Read Cannabis Wire’s coverage of New Jersey’s path to launching adult use sales.)

New Jersey’s cannabis industry has attracted intense lobbying attention from national players, Cannabis Wire learned through an analysis of registrations, including: Trulieve, Ayr, and Harvest Health and Recreation, among others. At least two of the entities awarded dispensary licenses this week, Theory Wellness and Terrapin, have been lobbying in the state.

Here are the companies awarded medical cannabis retail licenses: