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One of the final barriers to passing a bill that will launch the New Jersey’s legal marijuana industry may have fallen Wednesday, as a key lawmaker and Gov. Phil Murphy’s office reached an agreement on licensing cannabis growers.
State Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, said he plans to remove a provision that would have initially limited the number of people who could get licenses to grow marijuana from his bill (S21). Those limits were one of the last sticking points for Murphy’s administration, which wants to see the a robust industry with lots of opportunity rather than one that limits how many can get into the business.
The bill currently limits the number of licenses to grow marijuana to 28 in the first 18 months of legal sales.
“In a perfect world, I don’t think we need caps anymore,” Scutari told NJ Advance Media Wednesday.
But it was not clear Wednesday afternoon if the Assembly would come on board with the change.
“The Assembly continues to negotiate the final points of the legislation,” said Kevin McArdle, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin.
Both the Senate and Assembly committees expect to have hearings on the bill Thursday, and each chamber could vote on the bill as soon as Monday.
The state has licensed 12 medical operators who must grow, process and dispense marijuana. They will be the first to get a shot at the public market following legalization.
The new legislation allows for different types of licenses that would divvy up those processes to different businesses.
“There was good reasons when we first introduced it that way,” Scutari said of the limited licenses. He had previously said he hoped the medical dispensaries would have enough product to begin selling to the public shortly after legislation passed.
But supply shortages have long plagued the program and its 95,000 patients. Jeff Brown, assistant commissioner of the state Department of Health, has said he did not think the current dispensaries could have enough product to meet patient and public demand in coming weeks.
The existing dispensaries faced fierce competition for those 12 licenses and would benefit greatly from a continued hold on the market. But others wanted to see them removed to help the marijuana industry ramp up its supply and compete with the illicit market quickly.
"This is going to be a stranglehold on the production of product,” Scutari said of continued caps. “We can’t hold the whole industry hostage.”
The agreement marks the second major compromise on the bill this week after calls for increased racial justice provisions derailed it. Scutari said the bill would be amended to increase taxes on cultivators over time as the industry grows and the price of marijuana falls.
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Amanda Hoover may be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj.