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New Jersey legal cannabis delays have cannabis growers worried

by The Real Dirt | Feb 1, 2022 | Blog, Business, Cannabis Business, Cannabis Law, Cannabis Law and Compliance, Cannabis News, Growing, Industry News, Legalization, Politics

New Jersey cannabis growers worried about delays

Like many of New Jersey’s residents who voted to legalize weed for adult consumers, the state’s largest growers say they’ve been eager for the market to open.

In fact, they say they’re bursting at the seams with marijuana — and now, they’re worried they’ll have to take drastic measures if things don’t speed up.

“I hate to say this, but we may have to start destroying product, and we may have to start potentially letting people go because part of the anticipation is you ramp up your staffing, as well,” said James Leventis, an executive for Verano New Jersey, which has a cultivation and processing facility in Readington Township and three stores in Elizabeth, Lawrence Township and Neptune.

“You’re hired for a job with the idea that this market will develop,” said Leventis, the company’s vice president of Compliance & Government Affairs. “I’m very concerned we will continue to see these delays. It’s looking very stark right now.”

Just like any other organic material, cannabis starts to decompose after time. Even after it’s properly stored, after six months weed can get stale, loose its aroma and potency. In worst-case scenarios, the pot can get moldy.

For months, Verano along with fellow New Jersey Cannabis Trade Association members have been pressuring the state to allow them to sell to the public. The strategy has increased over the last month.

So what’s the hold up?

In no uncertain terms, the state agency created to govern the nascent cannabis industry — the Cannabis Regulatory Commission — has said these same companies demanding to open have yet to comply with stipulations in the marijuana law.

“The law has been in place since Feb. 22, 2021,” said Jeff Brown, the CRC’s executive director at last week’s public meeting. “It has noted clearly that alternative treatment centers [like Verano] need three things: municipal approval, relevant necessary supply to be able to serve their patient base, and operational capacity to continue to serve and even expand access.”

Read Full Story on NJ.com

Cannabis tax revenue surpasses $10 billion in legal states

by The Real Dirt | Jan 10, 2022 | Blog, Business, Cannabis Business, Cannabis News, Culture, Industry News, Legalization

cannabis tax revenue surpassed $10 billion

Sales taxes collected by states with legal cannabis programs totaled $10.4 billion as of December since the adult use market launched in 2014 in Colorado and Washington State, according to a study by The Marijuana Policy Project.

A report released Thursday by the pro-industry group said the $10.4 billion figure includes more than $3 billion in sales tax reported in 2021, thus far.

“States that have legalized cannabis for adults are reaping significant economic benefits,” said Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies at the Marijuana Policy Project.

The tax revenue helps fund education, school construction, early literacy, public libraries, behavioral health, alcohol and drug treatment, veterans’ services, conservation, job training, conviction expungement expenses, and community reinvestment.

“In many instances that revenue is being distributed to much needed public services and programs, including reinvesting in communities that were devastated by the war on drugs,” O’Keefe said. “This is in stark contrast to [cannabis] prohibition, which costs taxpayers billions of dollars each year to enforce.”

Some examples include $471.9 million toward improving the public education system in Colorado and more than $100 million in California for community and non profit groups that help people impacted by drug laws.

In Illinois, cannabis tax revenue has outpaced revenue from liquor taxes. According to data from the state, adult use cannabis generated about $193 million in tax revenue from July through the end of November, compared to about $141.3 million over the same period for liquor sales taxes, which include levies on beer, wine and spirits.

Read Full Story on MSN

All New York Cannabis Business License Types

by The Real Dirt | Dec 30, 2021 | Blog, Business, Cannabis Business, Cannabis Law, Cannabis Law and Compliance, Cannabis News, Industry News, Legalization

Cannabis legalization in New York has many entrepreneurs looking to capitalize on what will likely become the largest cannabis industry in the country. However, the state’s Cannabis Control Board [CCB] has already announced delays to the cannabis business license process.

Little has been revealed in terms of the application process and regulations, which won’t be released until 2022. However the Marijuana Regulation and Tax Act, which legalized cannabis in New York, outline what cannabis business licenses will be available.

In total, there are nine separate cannabis business licenses for New York. These licenses are:

Cultivator
Processor
Cooperative
Distributor
Retail Dispensary
Microbusiness
Delivery
Nursery
On-site Consumption

New York Cultivator License

A Cultivator license allows everything involved with growing and harvesting cannabis plants for the purpose of sale to licensed processors. However a business with a Cultivator license can also perform minimal processing themself without a processing license.

Additionally a Cultivator licensee can have one Processor license and one Distributor license. Anyone with a Cultivator license cannot have any ownership connection to a cannabis retail dispensary.

New York Cannabis Processor License

A cannabis processing business purchases cannabis from cultivators and finishes production. This includes extraction, infusing, packaging, labeling and branding. A processor can only sell their finished product to a distributor.

However a process can also have a distributor license as long as they company is selling their own products. Just like the Cultivator license, a Processor Licensee cannot have any connection to a cannabis retail dispensary.

New York Cannabis Cooperative License

A cannabis cooperative in New York can cultivate, process and distribute their own cannabis products. Additionally a cooperative can sell to other distributors, on-site consumption businesses, registered organizations and retail dispensaries.

A Cooperative Licensee cannot sell directly to consumers, must have democratically elected leadership consisting of New York state residents and must be registered as an LLC or LLP. As with other New York cannabis business licenses, cooperatives can’t have an ownership connection to a retail dispensary, microbusiness or on-site consumption site.

Anyone who is a member of the co-op is prohibited from having any ownership connection to any recreational cannabis license.

New York Cannabis Distributor License

A Distributor licensee can purchase cannabis products from cultivators, processors, cooperatives, micro-businesses or registered organizations. They can then sell the products to retail dispensaries or consumption sites.

A distributor can’t be tied to any microbusiness, dispensary, consumption site or registered organization.

New York Cannabis Retail Dispensary License

A Retail Dispensary License allows someone to open a retail location which can purchase cannabis products from distributors and sell them to consumers. No one person is allowed more than three retail licenses.

This license includes strict zoning requirements. A retail store must be on ground level in a business district, and cannot be within 500 feet of a school or 200 feet of a religious organization. Any municipalities that want to opt out of allowing retail locations must do so before 2022, and hundreds of counties in the state have opted out already.

New York Cannabis Microbusiness License

A micro-business licensee will be allowed to cultivate, process, distribute, deliver and sell a limited amount of its own cannabis products. The CCB has yet to determine the size, scope, and eligibility criteria for micro-businesses, but they are prioritizing social and economic equity applicants.

Micro-business owners can’t have connections to more than one micro-business or any other type of cannabis business.

New York Cannabis Delivery License

A Cannabis Delivery licensee can deliver cannabis products from a retail store, micro-business or delivery business directly to the consumer. Each delivery business can have up to the equivalent of 25 full-time workers per week.

The CBB will provide more information about the application process, criteria, and scope of licensed activities in 2022. Licensees may not have any ownership connection to more than one delivery business.

New York Cannabis Nursery License

A cannabis nursery owner is permitted to produce clones, immature plants, seeds and other agricultural products used specifically for the cultivation process. The nursery can sell these products to cultivators, co-ops, micro-businesses or registered organizations.

Cultivators may have a nursery license in order to sell products to other cultivators, co-ops or microbusinesses.

New York On-site Consumption License

On-site consumption licensees can purchase cannabis products and sell them to consumers for use in a designated area. Commonly called cannabis lounges or cannabis clubs, these sits will be similar to a hookah bar, but for cannabis.

The legislation outlines several strict regulations about the license application process, the physical site, and how business should be conducted at the site, similarly to retail dispensary locations. Licensees may not have any ownership connection to more than one site or any other type of cannabis business.

California cannabis companies warn of being at ‘breaking point’

by The Real Dirt | Dec 20, 2021 | Blog, Business, Cannabis Business, Cannabis Law, Cannabis Law and Compliance, Cannabis News, Industry News, Legalization, Politics

California cannabis companies are struggling to operate under the state's strict regulations and high taxes

California’s cannabis industry is at a “breaking point.”

That’s the warning coming from 27 people who represent growing operations, dispensaries, retail outlets and industry organizations who want Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers to reduce taxes on cannabis.

The group issued an open letter to state lawmakers Friday and posted a petition on Change.org, which as of Monday morning had more than 750 signatures.

“It is critical to recognize that an unwillingness to effectively legislate, implement, and oversee a functional regulated cannabis industry has brought us to our knees,” the letter said, noting that the industry’s past reform pleas have failed. “We have collectively reached a point of intolerable tension, and we will no longer support a system that perpetuates a failed and regressive War on Drugs.”

The group issued its warning more than five years after California voters approved Proposition 64, allowing for the legal growth and sale of marijuana and other cannabis products for recreational use. Such sales began statewide on Jan. 1, 2018.

What the industry wants is a tax break, a lifting of the cultivation tax that growers have to pay as well as a three-year break from excise taxes. It also wants to see more retail shops open up throughout California; the state allows local municipalities to decide whether to allow for local sales.

“Excessive taxation, which compounds across the supply chain, makes our product 50% more expensive at retail than the illicit market. This has created an illicit market that is currently three times the size of the legal market,” the letter said.

The current framework is “rigged for all to fail,” the letter said.

“We need you to understand that we have been pushed to a breaking point and we will not remain on our knees. We will not stand for political interests to the detriment of our own livelihoods, the health of our citizens, the prosperity of our families and the state of California’s economy,” it said.

Newsom’s office issued a statement in response to the industry’s plea, saying that the governor sees the need for cannabis tax reform as well as other changes.

Read Full Story from Silicon Valley Business Journal

New Jersey Begins Accepting Cannabis Business Application

by The Real Dirt | Dec 16, 2021 | Blog, Business, Cannabis Business, Cannabis Law and Compliance, Cannabis News, Industry News, Legalization

new jersey cannabis application are being accepted now

The Murphy Administration began accepting applications from cannabis growers, product manufacturers and testing labs on Wednesday — the first step that will usher in the legitimate marijuana industry New Jersey voters endorsed in a referendum 13 months ago.

Within four hours of the application portal going live 9 a.m. Wednesday, 500 people had established accounts, Jeff Brown, executive director for the Cannabis Regulatory Commission announced. By the end of the business day, 635 had created accounts, commission spokeswoman Toni-Anne Blake said.

“We are happy to reach this milestone,” Brown said in a statement. “Applications are coming in, the platform is performing well, and we can officially mark the launch of the state’s recreational cannabis industry.”

The commission will start accepting applications for dispensary owners, the retail shops that will sell the cannabis products, on March 15. There are no deadlines; applications will be accepted and reviewed on a continuous basis, the commission said.

Applicants who are owned by women, minorities and veterans will get reviewed and approved first, as well as from those who have been convicted of marijuana offenses and people from poor communities, the commission has said. One of the goals behind legalizing the sale and possession of weed is to lessen the harm on Black and brown people, who have been more than three times more likely to face arrest and conviction than white people, even though usage rates are the same.

Under the cannabis legalization law signed in February by Gov. Phil Murphy, the commission created the Office of Minority, Disabled Veterans, and Women Business Development to promote diversity.

The commission also created a category for Social Equity Business applicants, defined as entities “owned by people who have lived in an economically disadvantaged area or who have convictions for cannabis-related offenses.”