New Jersey’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) continues to expand its adult-use market with 62 new licenses as the state continues to battle high prices.
The CRC approved 24 conditional licenses on March 13, including 14 retailers, three delivery services, three wholesalers, two distributors, one manufacturer and one cultivator. The CRC converted 24 conditional licenses to annual ones, including 14 retailers, five cultivators and five manufacturers. They also approved seven more annual licenses for three cultivators, two manufacturers and two retailers.
The commission also reconsidered seven applications for conditional licenses that were denied in February due to unpaid fees. All seven — four retailers, two manufacturers and one cultivator — have since paid their fees, according to the CRC, which voted 5-0 to approve them.
The CRC is currently accepting license applications from all parties across the entire supply chain.
It opened applications for wholesalers, distributors and delivery companies for social equity and diversely owned businesses on Sept. 27, 2023. Ninety days later, applicants who only qualify for either social equity or diversely owned can apply. Finally, all other applicants were allowed to throw their hats into the ring on March 27.
New Jersey grants social equity status to individuals who have lived in an economically disadvantaged area of the state or have a cannabis-related conviction. Diversely-owned businesses are owned by either a person of color, a woman or a disabled veteran.
Prior to the approvals from March 13, the state had 153 active retailers between both medical and adult-use, 32 cultivators and 18 manufacturers, according to CRB Monitor licensing data.
“This list grows everyday and every week,” said CRC Executive Director Jeff Brown during the commission meeting. “I’m also very encouraged because we’re starting to see new cultivators open up, new manufacturers open up. I think 2024 is going to be the year of really seeing additional cultivation capacity, more product diversity and more competitive pricing.”
Brown cautioned that although he believed issuing more licenses would help lower prices, those impacts could be slow to manifest.
“Whenever you make a move as far as licensing, whether it’s issuing permits or issuing licenses, especially on the supply side, it really takes at least two years to see that impact hit the market,” said Brown.
He added that he believes the agency’s priority when looking at pricing trends is to focus on the price of medical cannabis and to keep an eye on licensing.
“[Let’s] make sure that we’re issuing enough licenses to maintain a competitive market in both the medical market and the adult-use market,” he said.
Eliza Rodriguez, a veteran who hopes to open a dispensary and lounge called the Otherside, voiced her frustration after being denied a license during the meeting, given the great expense of securing and renting property before an operator even knows if they can open.
“As a combat disabled veteran this process has rattled my anxiety so badly I may need to be my own best customer,” she said. “Beyond my lived experiences, I think about the trappers who have stopped their profitable businesses to go legal and trust you and our communities to lead them to legitimacy.”
The average price of a gram of flower in February was $12.22 for adult-use and $10.48 for medicinal. A year prior those prices were $13.19 for adult-use and $11.75 for medicinal.
“There’s more work to be done there, for sure. We’re going to see prices come down more as competition increases,” said Brown. “This is good progress.
In contrast, medical prices in Pennsylvania, which only has medical, averaged $8.51 per gram in December 2023, while Maryland adult-use prices in February averaged $9.64 per gram.
Curaleaf gets renewed but may still be tracked for labor compliance
The meeting also included 34 annual license renewals, 28 of which were split between seven MSOs. One of those was Curaleaf, which almost lost their licenses a year ago.
“They are in compliance, at the moment, with the labor requirements. There’s a couple instances that we’re tracking for sure, but at this point in time they are good,” said Brown at the March 13 meeting.
The CRC denied Curaleaf’s license renewal in April 2023 citing concerns that the cannabis giant was not operating in good faith with a collective bargaining agreement at its Bellmawr grow site. Curaleaf announced the closure of the site a month before that meeting.
A few days later, the CRC held an emergency meeting where commissioners voted to reinstate Curaleaf’s licenses, stipulating that Curaleaf would have to return to the commission in subsequent meetings with evidence that they were working in good faith with unionization efforts.
