Last week New Jersey kicked off long-awaited recreational cannabis sales.

On the first day of sales, April 21, over 12,000 customers spent nearly $2 million for cannabis, according to NJ's Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC). (Benzinga)

Some worried about the availability of cannabis for both the recreational and medical markets, but there was plenty to go around. The MMJ supply remained strong, with 64,000 ounces of products sold to patients and their caregivers over the past month.

Growing chorus of officials want to ban officers from partaking in weed

During his decade in law enforcement, AJ Jacobs fell into a trap of cracking open a beer after a long, stressful shift in the suburbs of Phoenix.

Jacobs didn’t spend much time with his family — he had the “super cop” mentality to work all the time, he said.

But after 11 years on the force, he sustained a career-ending back injury, and turned to cannabis to alleviate the pain from five herniated discs in his back. He said marijuana also helped him work through PTSD, and he recommends it to police officers.

The Garden State raked in the green during the state’s first day of recreational marijuana sales.

More than 12,000 people headed to dispensaries and bought nearly $1.9 million worth of cannabis and cannabis products, according to the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission. In the days since sales started on Thursday, lines have been steady at dispensaries.

“We expected sales to be substantial and the data shows that the market is effectively serving both adult-use consumers and patients,” Jeff Brown, executive director of the NJ-CRC, said. “We continue to monitor inventory and access for patients and are prepared to take enforcement action against any ATC that does not meet the requirements for patient access and supply.”

Micah Rasmussen, the director of Rider’s Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics,  has been involved in the New Jersey political landscape since he graduated from Rider in 1992.

The political science professor organizes his classes to be a hub for political conversation with the party lines that often split local politics represented in his classroom. 

Yet in recent years, students in his classroom bipartisanly agreed to the recreational legalization of marijuana, something that went into effect in New Jersey for those 21 and older on April 21. 

The municipality's 120 employees have been notified that if they use marijuana it could lead to their termination, Mayor Keith Kazmark said. 

"Regardless of this change in law, the Borough Council and I want to emphasize that all policies and procedures and rules and regulations applicable to the employees of the Borough of Woodland Park will remain the same," Kazmark said.

Although it does apply to all municipal employees, it is most likely to affect those who work for the police and public works departments, as they are subject to random drug tests, borough officials said.   

"Our police officers are responsible for ensuring our public safety, enforcing laws and serving as our protectors," Kazmark said. 

The potential economic boon from the at-long-last debut of recreational marijuana sales in New Jersey will also pay dividends for labor unions, as the state law governing the budding industry includes a clear path for organizing the new workplaces.

Hugh Giordano, director of organizing for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 360, said the union’s role is similar to what it does in any economic sector – seeking to make sure workers have fair wages, affordable healthcare and retirement plans and a voice on the job.

This week, guest writer Elise Young takes a look at the debate being sparked among police forces, lawmakers and local leaders by New Jersey’s recent legalization. 

Legal — except if you make arrests? 

Like any other New Jerseyans enjoying the recreational marijuana sales that started on April 21, police officers are free to use. 

But two mayors are saying no way. The police union is telling members it’s best not to chance it. And Governor Phil Murphy says that if a bill barring off-duty cops from partaking lands on his desk, he would consider it. 

Well over a year after voters said yes to legal weed, New Jersey is finally about to start getting high on its own supply.

State residents 21 and older can lawfully buy marijuana starting on Thursday, after a decade-long effort by advocates to legalize recreational use and end years of racially unbalanced criminal prosecution.

Dispensaries are expecting big crowds on Thursday, a day after the unofficial marijuana holiday known as 4/20. In Paterson and Bloomfield, dispensaries operated by Green Thumb Industries will open at 6 a.m., Chief Executive Ben Kovler said.

"We see it as the end of Prohibition 2.0," he said.

The number of medicinal cannabis companies with licences in the Island has more than doubled, although the Economic Development Minister has played down any expectations that the fledgling industry could be the ‘saviour of Jersey’s economy’.

Senator Lyndon Farnham admitted that his department remained unsure what the industry could generate for the Island’s economy but said it would provide a ‘useful source of income’.

Government officials confirmed yesterday that the number of licences had risen from two to five, during an Economic and International Affairs Scrutiny Panel hearing.