Potential marijuana businesses in the state of New Jersey are preparing as the state’s cannabis commission is expected to soon release industry guidelines.
The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission is just days away from revealing rules and regulations for the recreational adult-use marketplace. The rules are expected to be debuted this week on August 21st.
Towns in the state have until Aug. 21 to decide if they will allow the sale of recreational cannabis in their town. It is on that day that the commission will release the rules for the industry.
“By Aug. 21, they’re supposed to drop interim rules and regulations. Then they have a 30-day window where they’re supposed to hold info sessions in each county,” says Chirali Patel, the founder of the group Blaze Responsibly.
“The market opens up for anybody potentially to enter. When the people have large capital, they can come in and they can win these licenses and so it’s leaving… the smaller players, because they don’t have a team, because they don’t have the resources, they can’t compete,” says Patel, speaking on concerns that could make the industry less accessible for smaller businesses.
After counties hold information sessions, the next deadline is to turn in the application by Oct. 20. The applications will become available on Sept. 20.
According to Patel, the four-week application timeline is too short and leaves applicants, especially those applying for micro-licenses, vulnerable to predatory practices.
“Everybody is rushing to sign up with consultants or attorneys or property to secure it. But nobody has any clue what the application even looks like,” Patel says.
“I’ve been getting people coming to me saying they were quoted flat fees of $70,000 to put together a micro-business license, for one license. These are people who the legislation was supposed to help, the smaller players, the people who were harmed by the war on drugs,” she added.
According to Patel, anyone looking to get into the business should decide what type of license they want, build a team and then choose a municipality that has opted in.
She also says for future business owners to take their time and do research. This is just the first application rollout.
