TRENTON (1010 WINS) -- Sales of recreational marijuana could begin in New Jersey as soon as late April or early May, with the state panel that oversees the new legal pot industry expected to approve its first license applications this week.
During its monthly meeting Thursday, the Cannabis Regulatory Commission is expected to set the date that sales can begin after a 30-day notification period, NJ.com reported.
That means sales of recreational marijuana could start in late April at the earliest, as the first potential batch of cultivation and manufacturing licenses take effect.
Sales would first begin at five alternative treatment centers that currently sell medical cannabis but that have applied to also sell to the upcoming adult recreational market.
The state panel has already deemed that the five centers have submitted complete applications, so they’re up for approval on Thursday, according to the report.
It’s expected to be another six to nine months before other approved cultivators and manufacturers have their businesses up and running.
Robert DiPisa, co-chair of the Cannabis Law Group at Cole Schotz, told NJ.com that the state has been “waiting on this for a long time” and that Thursday will be “historic” and a “big day for New Jersey.”
But he cautioned that the five alternative treatment centers will have to prove to the panel that they have “enough supply to meet the medical demands of the patients first.”
“So first and foremost, the focus is that the patients are getting the medication they need, and secondary to that is the adult use market,” DiPisa said.
New Jersey became the 14th state to legalize adult use of recreational marijuana in February 2021, when Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill into law. The first license applications were submitted last December, including by the five alternative treatment centers.
The state panel said last Friday that it had already received 236 applications from dispensary owners, just three days after it began accepting applications from them on Tuesday.
Murphy has already indicated that he believes legal pot sales will begin soon: his revised budget for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, anticipates $4 million in state taxes from the sales.
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