New Jersey governor Phil Murphy signed off on legislation last week to expand the opportunities for industrial hemp in the state.

It’s been a really odd state of affairs in New Jersey with medical cannabis cultivation legal, but a very limited industrial hemp program so far – but New Jersey hasn’t been alone in this.

After months of will-they-won’t-they activity, both New Jersey and New York failed to deliver on legalizing adult-use cannabis. What once seemed to be foregone conclusions to many turned out to be two hard doses of reality that leaves citizens and lawmakers with a foul taste in their mouths. 

Instead of adult-use legalization, both have since pivoted to focus on expanding other cannabis parameters.

In New York, lawmakers flipped focus to expanding the state’s partial decriminalization law enacted in 1977. The move aims to address the social justice issues Governor Andrew Cuomo has championed since changing his opinion on legalization.

On Monday, New Jersey’s Department of Health announced plans to accept applications for individuals and entities interested in opening operational and cultivation facilities. The agency said that it is seeking applicants to operate as many as 24 Alternative Treatment Centers, with the aim to place eight in the northern part of the state, eight in the central region and seven in the south. An additional facility will be placed in a yet-to-be-determined region, the department said. 

Under the new bill signed earlier this week by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D), medical marijuana will now be more accessible to patients in the state, writes Calvin Hughes.

A number of changes are coming to New Jersey's medical marijuana program including increasing possession limits, boosting the number of medical marijuana producers and lowering the threshold to receive medical marijuana.

Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey signed a bill on Tuesday that expands the state’s medical cannabis program. Under the measure, the Jake Honig Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Act, the state will add more licenses for providers in the medicinal cannabis program, patients will be allowed to legally possess more medicine, and registered medical marijuana patients from other states will be permitted to possess cannabis.

Just as thousands of tourists flock to the Jersey Shore for the Fourth of July, the New Jersey medical marijuana program is on the verge of opening its doors to out-of-state patients for the first time.

The marijuana industry has been fueled by the legislative measures that have occurred on a statewide basis over the past five or so years. In that time, we have seen a number of states allow for the use and sale of recreational cannabis. With so many states showing that there can be a lot of success for those willing to put in the right laws, it seems that many places around the nation have begun to follow suit.

The New Jersey Department of Health announced a plan on Monday to issue up to 108 more licenses for growers, manufacturers and retailers to participate in the state’s medical marijuana program.

“Due to the growing patient population served by the Medicinal Marijuana Program over the course of 2018 and 2019, and the projected future expansion outlined in the Department’s Biennial Report, the Department has determined that additional ATCs (Alternative Treatment Centers) are necessary to meet the needs of the population of qualified patients,” reads the announcement.

The Health Department also plans to issue 38 more licenses for cannabis Alternative Treatment Centers in the northern and central regions of the state and up to 32 for the southern region.

New Jersey lawmakers could vote as early as Thursday on a major medical marijuana expansion bill. Senate Bill 10 advanced out of a pair of committees on Monday, but only after undergoing multiple amendments. The amended version is not yet publicly available, but details are forthcoming. Still, the bill’s core framework remains the same, aiming to expand patient access to caregivers and licensed medical cannabis products.