Legal weed sales in the state of New Jersey are unlikely to start next month, prompting the state to miss a key deadline.
Jeff Brown, the executive director of the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission, said a number of factors are still in the way before the doors can open, including lack of municipal buy-in.
“There’s still a lot to be done,” Brown told NJ Cannabis Insider. “Feb. 22 is not a concrete date to open. There is no firm commitment on timing of when recreational sales will begin.”
State legislation, S-21, directed the CRC to begin allowing sales on that date, six months after rules and regulations were established by the commission.
“We’re going to keep pushing to move as fast as we can” to open, said Brown in a phone interview with NJ Cannabis Insider. “That requires approval and industry readiness, and the readiness is uneven.
“One of the biggest deficiencies we’re seeing is a lack of municipal approval,” said Brown. “That’s an issue, and supply continues to be issue. It’s the priority of the CRC to get recreational sales started as soon as we can, but we have to do it in a way that’s compliant with the law. We need the industry to get there.”
“The regulations have not been finalized, and we haven’t heard back on our application,” said Patrik Jonsson, regional president of the northeast for Curaleaf.
“Give us 48 hours, and we can pretty much do whatever the state wants, and we’ll open,” said Jonsson. “We have product, the people and the facilities. There are a few minor things we need clarified around the product. But we are very much ready for turning it on as soon as the state lets us.
“We just don’t know what we have to do to bring it over the finish line,” Jonsson said. “That’s all on the state at this point.”
