The cannabis marketplace continues to roll out in New Jersey, but much slower than many had hoped. On Thursday, the Cannabis Regulatory Commission recommended that the state use fees it collects to provide more grants and low-interest loans to social equity applicants, those who were affected by the war on drugs and who often don’t have the capital to enter the marketplace.
“We are still issuing more cure letters than approvals, so either application have to cure deficiencies before they can move forward in the process…We do expect to wrap up reviews of all the remaining applicants over the coming months here,” said Jeff Brown, executive director of Cannabis Regulatory Commission.
“So when it comes to the cure letters those are sent out to applicants who are missing some sort of background information or need to clarify something in their application, so, of course, that takes time,” said Dianna Houenou, the cannabis regulatory commission chairperson, who’s feeling the weight of the expectations on an industry that so far has gotten off to a bit of a slow start, with just the big weed players doing all the business.
Another headline from this week’s meeting is that 70% of tax revenue from the industry will be distributed to programs and agencies with the goals of workforce development and education, public health, justice reinvestment and economic development, a target that the commission says came from community input.
But the proof of the cannabis is in the effect, and, the danger, says one advocate, is that a few million dollars in tax revenue over the next two to five years, won’t have any real potency.
