1 year after recreational marijuana hit the market in New Jersey, smaller businesses are still struggling
WEST ORANGE, N.J. -- Friday marks one year since recreational marijuana hit the market in New Jersey.
The industry is booming in the Garden State, and pot sales are only expected to grow from here, but as CBS2's Nick Caloway reports, smaller businesses that were meant to be first in line to cash in are still struggling to get going.
"I heard that it was legalized, so I was quite happy. I'll be honest, yeah, I was happy," Montclair resident Pranav Gopalakrishnan said.
For those who partake in New Jersey, it's been a big year, and an even bigger one for cannabis retailers.
Last year, more than $228 million of legal, recreational pot has been sold, according to New Jersey's Cannabis Regulatory Commission, translating to roughly $20 million in tax revenue for the state.
"We're seeing this market grow day-by-day," said Jeff Brown, executive director of the commission.
- Flashback (4/21/22): Recreational marijuana dispensaries in New Jersey open their doors for the first time
The effort to legalize in the Garden State was pitched as a social equity initiative to help people in communities hard-hit by the war on drugs break into the industry, but critics say that has not yet materialized since large, out-of-state companies with deep pockets were fast-tracked to get licensed first.
"These companies have established brand loyalty, so anyone coming onto the market now has to try to claw that business back from them," said John Harmon, with the African-American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey.
"A lot of those companies started in medicinal. By law, they were given the ability to expand. We focused on getting new business licensure going first because we wanted to get that pipeline for new business started," Brown said.
The delay leaves local entrepreneurs like Charles Penn and Corey Dishmen, with the Library of New Jersey, to face regulatory headwinds. After years of planning and red tape, they hope to finally open this summer, and they are eager to compete with those multi-state operators, or MSOs.
"Because once companies like ourselves open up, there won't be much room for them to operate in this state. Because we'll have better quality products. We're putting passion and love into it. It's just going to be a more curated experience," Dishmen said.
Critics also say it costs too much to buy legal weed in New Jersey. They say prices in the Garden State are among the highest in the nation.
Right now, there are 28 recreational dispensaries in New Jersey, but dozens more licenses have been issued and those businesses should be operational soon.
