New Jersey has given recreational marijuana sales the green light, as “individuals 21 years and older will be able to purchase cannabis and cannabis products legally without a medical card,” the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission announced Friday in a statement.
The commission confirmed in the statement that it would issue licenses to seven Alternative Treatment Centers — including 13 retail dispensaries — beginning Thursday.
“This is an exciting time for New Jersey,” Jeff Brown, the commission’s executive director, said in the statement. “New Jerseyans voted overwhelmingly to have access to adult-use cannabis and it is now here. I am very proud of the work the Commission has done over the past year to open the market. We have been intentional and deliberate to do everything in our power to set the market on good footing to start.”
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law decriminalizing marijuana for anyone 21 or older in February 2021.
“Our current marijuana prohibition laws have failed every test of social justice, which is why for years I’ve strongly supported the legalization of adult-use cannabis. Maintaining a status quo that allows tens of thousands, disproportionately people of color, to be arrested in New Jersey each year for low-level drug offenses is unjust and indefensible,” he said in a statement at that time.
Retailers are lining up to get into the cannabis business — more than 320 start-up companies submitted applications to open dispensaries throughout New Jersey, The New York Times reported.
The average price for an ounce of marijuana in New Jersey is $344, according to American Addiction Centers, which tracks the price of cannabis around the country.
The Times reported that officials expect that price to decrease as marijuana becomes more widely available.
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