Real estate is one of the more difficult aspects of the cannabis industry. Securing a license is tough but getting your location is even tougher. Each state has different regulations and restrictions, which combined with unique real estate markets makes finding and securing property essential. It’s an expensive endeavor and one in which traditional mortgages aren’t typically an option. 

This presentation will focus on the New England and New York area cannabis real estate markets. It will cover the following states: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. 

The New Jersey Supreme Court dealt medical marijuana patients a big victory Tuesday, ruling unanimously that a construction company must pay for an injured employer’s medical cannabis bills.

The decision upheld an Appellate Division ruling from January 2020. That court said Vincent Hager’s former employer, M&K Construction, must foot the monthly bill for medical marijuana he uses to treat injuries he sustained on the job in 2001. As of early 2020, those costs were about $616 a month, according to court documents.

The rise of the East Coast cannabis market gained another foothold in late March 2021 when New York became the most recent state to legalize adult use cannabis, joining ranks with other Atlantic stalwarts, including New Jersey, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

In the 50 years since President Richard Nixon initiated the war on drugs, politicians of both major parties have endorsed aggressive police tactics and harsh punishments to combat substance abuse, and minority communities have disproportionately suffered. Black Americans are several times more likely than whites to be arrested for low-level marijuana offenses, despite comparable usage rates.

The race is on!

Just over a month after New Jersey became the 13th state to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a marijuana legalization bill into law Wednesday, crowding the legal weed market in the Mid-Atlantic before it even gets off the ground. 

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy indicated this week that he is in favor of a change to the state’s new marijuana law that would allow law enforcement to notify parents of an underage individuals’ first-time pot offense. 

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, the Democrat said he’s receptive to the tweak to the law he signed late last month.

New Jersey’s recreational marijuana market is now voter-approved and in effect under legislation signed last month by Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.

Only those 21 and older can legally possess and use the drug. But there are a lot of ins and outs to think about; see what you can and can't do right here.

New Jersey’s cannabis business community is eager to roll up its sleeves and get to work now that laws are in place and the regulatory body to govern it has been seated. And while many business questions abound as to how the marketplace will unfurl, how the state’s social equity provisions will take shape continues to be at the heart of much of the conversation.

New Jersey is among a handful of states that recently legalized cannabis and made social equity a core requirement of market rollout.