April 12, 2021 at 7:40 p.m. EDT
Updated on:April 12, 2021 at 7:40 p.m. EDT
After weeks of delays, the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission held its first meeting on Monday.
The group met virtually and the chairman of the commission said it would take weeks to put together the rules and regulations for the legal sale of marijuana.
Executive director Jeff Brown says the group “will create a safe and equitable market for the manufacture and sale of cannabis for adults over the age of 21”.
“Regulations will provide the framework for the eventual approval and licensing of new companies,” says Brown.
The commission has six months to set the rules, regulations, and tax rates that will allow businesses to grow, grow, store, and sell legal marijuana in the Garden State. You have a maximum of six months to do all of this.
Edmund DeVeaux of the New Jersey Cannabusiness Association says he coincided exactly with the meeting.
“People want to start with cannabis. They want to open pharmacies, they want to open their cultivation areas, they want to process, ”he says.
The commissioners also looked at legalizing marijuana as a tool for social justice. Seventy percent of the sales tax on marijuana and any money from a separate excise tax will benefit communities hit by the decades-long war on drugs.
“Just as the war on drugs – including the war on the people – created guidelines aimed primarily at black and brown communities for the purpose of destroying them, it is humble to be able to enforce guidelines and regulations that focus primarily on restoring the same communities, ”says Commissioner Charles Barker.
The commission is also taking over the administration of the pre-existing medical marijuana program in New Jersey from the State Department of Health. This program already has 15 operational marijuana dispensaries. A 16th medical pharmacy is about to open.
“At any given time, you know, we have 20,000 pounds of cannabis and cannabis products in total in stocks across the state,” says Brown.
The next meeting of the commission will practically take place on April 22nd. Public questions and comments can be submitted to [email protected].