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EDITOR’S NOTE: NJ Cannabis Insider is hosting an in-person day-long conference and networking event Sept. 23 at the Carteret Performing Arts Center, featuring many of the state’s leading power players. Tickets are limited.
The state Cannabis Regulatory Commission will not begin accepting new applications for business licenses by this weekend, thereby missing a statutory deadline intended to keep development of the legal weed marketplace on track.
But the commission at its meeting Tuesday evening did approve a new licensing platform to help it process applications when the time comes, and says that alone is a significant step toward launching the new industry.
Legislators baked clear deadlines into the legalization law — six months from law’s signing, a commission would need to have rules, and within another six months, it needs to pick a date for legal sales to begin — to avoid further delays in starting legal weed sales.
Between those lies the process for licensing more businesses to grow, process and sell marijuana to the public. The law mandates the commission begin accepting and processing new applications for licenses within 30 days of adopting its initial rules. That deadline hits Saturday.
A commission source who was not authorized to speak publicly said officials would not meet the deadline or open applications within days. Instead, the commission will publish a notice in the New Jersey Register that lists the start date for application filing and the necessary materials an applicant will need to submit, adhering to a process laid out in its regulations.
The source declined to say when the notice would be published, but did say the commission would announce it at a public meeting.
“It doesn’t mean we’re not going to open up applications soon,” the source said.
The intent is to give everyone a clear picture of what they will need and time to collect the necessary pieces for their applications. That could allow smaller entrepreneurs a more fair playing field, as they’ll compete against bigger businesses that have the help of law firms.
It was always unlikely any newly-licensed businesses would open their doors or put plants in the ground by February 2022, even if the commission stuck to the statutory deadline. Medical marijuana dispensaries in New Jersey have taken a year or longer to begin serving customers after receiving licenses.
There will be few potential consequences, if any, when the commission blows the deadline. Someone could theoretically file for a writ of mandamus, a judicial remedy that could have a court order the CRC to fulfill its obligation, Mike McQueeny, a cannabis attorney with Foley Hoag, said. But that takes time and money, and might not directly benefit potential applicants.
The mandate proved perhaps most powerful in setting the tone for commissioners.
“The Legislature loud and clear said: Let’s get this moving,” McQueeny said.
Some speculate that a troubled 2019 request for licenses applications may have played into the delay of new licenses — it saddled the commission with some 150 applications to review as it set up shop and developed its rules. Asking for new applications while the prior ones languish could solicit more criticism.
The source said the old request for applications and a call for new applications are separate, and have been overly conflated.
“2019 is our highest priority to get done,” the source said. “We can do more than one thing at once.”
Sean Mack, co-chair of the cannabis and hemp practice at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, said clients have been preparing to have applications ready this month, given the statutory deadline. But for those stuck in the 2019 licensing holding pattern, uncertainty remains.
When the commission awards 24 medical licenses from the 2019 round, some rejected entrepreneurs may want to apply instead for an adult use license. But if the CRC opened up adult use applications before giving a determination to those waiting applicants, it would create a dilemma.
Either way, those awaiting the 2019 announcement are facing uncertainty.
“This timing right now really puts those applicants in a really tough predicament,” Mack said. “Now, potentially making a decision on, do I drop the 2019 and move forward? I would not want to be sitting in their shoes right now.”
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Amanda Hoover may be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj.
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