The annual 4/20 event just came and went. The day, which unofficially recognizes the celebration of marijuana, was a day too early for the state of New Jersey.
It was on April 21 that all of the state’s residents above the age of 21 were finally able to legally purchase recreational weed, one day past 4/20.
New Jersey residents are now allowed to purchase recreational weed from the state’s dispensaries after state regulators earlier this month gave the green go-ahead to
seven facilities that already sell medical marijuana.
Three of the seven facilities are in the northern part of the state, three are in the south, and one is in central New Jersey.
“Selecting 4/20 for opening day would have presented unmanageable logistical challenges for patients and other buyers, surrounding communities, and for municipalities,” said Toni-Anne Blake, spokeswoman for the Cannabis Regulatory Commission, per NJ.com.
“Regulators and industry representatives agreed that it was not feasible.”
“This is a historic step in our work to create a new cannabis industry,” Gov. Phil Murphy wrote in a tweet last week.
It was last year that Murphy signed three bills that legalize up to 6 ounces of recreational pot in the Garden State.
“As of this moment, New Jersey’s broken and indefensible marijuana laws which permanently stained the records of many residents and short-circuited their futures, and which disproportionately hurt communities of color and failed the meaning of justice at every level, social or otherwise — are no more,” Murphy said back in 2020.
New Jersey is now one of 18 states, along with the District of Columbia, that have legalized recreational cannabis.
