Murphy ignores N.J. cannabis industry in budget address

EDITOR’S NOTE: NJ Cannabis Insider is hosting a day-long conference and networking event March 16 at the Carteret Performing Arts Center, featuring many of the state’s leading power players. Tickets are limited.

Cannabis revenue is expected to generate $19 million for New Jersey’s general fund in the new $48.9 billion state budget laid out by Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday.

But the industry surprisingly got the silent treatment from Murphy during his budget address.

The lack of any mention of cannabis was more than a little noticeable given Murphy gave the industry a shoutout in both his State of the State address and second inaugural speech in January.

Despite a reference to “growing businesses” contributing to New Jersey’s economy, Murphy’s budget address never cited cannabis specifically as being among them.

So what happened in just over a month since Murphy’s last two big events?

Well, nothing.

The state-appointed Cannabis Regulatory Commission missed a self-imposed deadline of Feb. 22 to open the market to recreational cannabis sales. The panel said it is still reviewing license applications.

February 22 was the one-year anniversary of Murphy’s signing of the law that legalized adult recreational weed for adults 21 and over.

When pressed about the missed Feb. 22 deadline, Murphy said last month that he would rather get the industry opened right with the promised social justice component than getting it wrong.

Just two weeks ago, Murphy said during his radio show that he expected “movement within weeks” on opening the cannabis market.

But the Cannabis Regulatory Commission is not as confident. At the panel’s Feb. 24 hearing, CRC executive director Jeff Brown said the 90-day review of most of the dozen alternative treatment centers hoping to expand to the adult recreational market concludes March 15.

Brown said he expected to have an update on these applications at the commission’s next hearing on March 24, but stopped short of saying how soon sales could start after that, contradicting Murphy’s “within weeks” comment.

Commission spokeswoman Toni-Anne Blake emailed on Tuesday that the panel has set no date as to when the cannabis market will open.

“Executive Director Brown did not make any statement about ATCs and the March agenda. At no point did Director Brown or any CRC official state that any ATCs will be approved for recreational sales by March 24,” Blake’s email to NJ Advance Media said.

“The CRC remains committed to following the law and ensuring New Jersey’s market opens expediently and that patient access is protected in the process,” said Blake.

During a budget briefing by the Treasurer’s Office on Monday, it was anticipated that the cannabis industry would generate $19 million to the general fund in fiscal year 2023.

“$19 million is the expected revenue from recreational sales for the general fund, not the total amount of expected revenue,” Murphy spokesman Michael Zhadanovsky said after Murphy’s budget address. “Significantly more funding will be dedicated for CRC operations and impact zone investments.

Asked if the $19 million figure was adjusted downward due to the slower than expected opening of cannabis sales, Zhadanovsky said no.

“This is revenue the State will start realizing in July (which is the beginning of the next fiscal year),” Zhadanovsky said.

Legalizing recreational weed for adults age 21 and over was the centerpiece of Murphy’s first run for governor in 2017. Murphy said it was a way to right wrongs from the past, particularly making Black and brown communities whole who were ravaged by the failed war on drugs.

Neither the Governor’s Office nor the Cannabis Regulatory Commission could provide concrete numbers on total cannabis-related jobs expected after Murphy’s State of the State address in late January.

But the bill’s prime sponsor and new Senate President Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, said then that numbers will be strong and that Murphy’s words in the two high-profile speeches were reassuring.

“I am hopeful this year we see a successful roll out of the legalized cannabis market,” Scutari texted NJ Cannabis Insider in late January.

Scutari, who looked on behind Murphy next to Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, on Tuesday, had no comment on the governor not citing cannabis in his budget address.

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Suzette Parmley may be reached at sparmley@njadvancemedia.com or follow her on Twitter: @SuzParmley

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