A new New Jersey bill would allow medical cannabis dispensaries to begin selling recreational weed without municipal approval, a sign that state lawmakers are seeking to push back on some towns' resistance to hosting dispensaries.
The legislation, sponsored by Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D), includes a number of other provisions aimed at the state's cannabis industry, including one that would allow medical cannabis dispensaries to redesignate their product for recreational sales. But its aim to allow medical dispensaries to shift to the recreational market without municipal approval is the one that could raise the hackles of some local officials opposed to cannabis sales.
New Jersey's recreational cannabis law allowed towns to opt in or out of sales by August 2021, and most of them opted out. Only about a third of New Jersey's 564 municipalities allow cannabis businesses, and some of those towns limit sales to medical cannabis only. Five of New Jersey's roughly 200 dispensaries sell only medical cannabis, according to the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC).
Joshua Bauchner, attorney and chair of the cannabis, hemp, and psychedelics practice group at Mandelbaum Barrett in Roseland, said the bill appears to be lawmakers' response to struggles the cannabis industry in New Jersey has faced because of the municipal approval process.
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