Comments on S4154
Ken Wolski, RN, MPA
Executive Director, Coalition for
Medical Marijuana--New Jersey, Inc.
Chairman, Trenton Cannabis Advisory
Committee
New Jersey Senate President Nick Scutari’s bill S4154 “Establishes
crime of selling or purchasing marijuana from unlicensed businesses.” This
bill criminalizes the "knowing" purchase from the illegal
dispensaries with a 6-month jail term and a fine as a Disorderly Person. This
bill also establishes additional penalties for the manufacture, distribution,
or dispensing of marijuana by a business not licensed by the Cannabis
Regulatory Commission (CRC).
This
bill is in response to the proliferation of unlicensed, i.e., black-market,
sales of marijuana in the state that are harming the new, legal marijuana
industry here. But there are other, more effective ways, to diminish the impact
of the black-market on the legal industry, rather than creating more criminal
penalties. That is, by passing into law the medicinal cannabis insurance bills,
and the home cultivation bills that are currently in the New Jersey
Legislature.
The
medicinal cannabis insurance bills are:
·
S1944: Allows
costs of medical cannabis to be reimbursed by Catastrophic Illness in Children
Relief Fund, PAAD, Senior Gold and VCCO.
·
S1943/A4371: Requires workers'
compensation, PIP, and health insurance coverage for the medical use of
cannabis under certain circumstances.
·
A898/S2828: Establishes
program to subsidize purchase price of medical cannabis for registered
qualifying patients enrolled in Medicaid or NJ FamilyCare programs.
The home cultivation bills are:
·
S1393/A846: Authorizes home
cultivation of medical cannabis.
·
S1985/A3867: Legalizes six
plants for personal use and 10 plants for medical purposes.
When the insurance bills become law, an
ounce of medicinal cannabis can be sold to registered patients for a $15 copay,
rather than the $250 - $300 an ounce currently charged on the black-market. The
CRC’s Medicinal Cannabis Program will explode with new patients, and healthcare
costs will go down throughout the state, as described in the Press Release, “NJSNA
(The New Jersey State Nurses Association) supports insurance for medicinal
cannabis.” See: https://cmmnj.blogspot.com/2025/05/njsna-supports-insurance-for-medicinal.html
Insurance coverage will make the medical benefits of cannabis available to many residents who have been impoverished by their illnesses or injuries. These bills will also reduce healthcare costs in the state. Cannabis stabilizes multiple conditions. Greater access to cannabis therapy will allow patients to require:
·
fewer
pharmaceutical drugs;
·
fewer
surgical procedures; and,
·
fewer
emergency room visits and hospitalizations.
When
home cultivation of cannabis is legally permitted, this will be another tool to
undercut the black-market.
Home
cultivation sites will be registered with the CRC, regulated to ensure they are
safely maintained, and even taxed.
Current
purchasers of black-market marijuana are not to blame for the legal market’s
failure to thrive. It is cruel to punish them. Many are undoubtedly patients
who are desperate for lower costs. To penalize the purchase of a product from an
unlicensed store is entirely inappropriate. The purchaser cannot be expected to
know if a store is properly licensed, and if the products there are properly
regulated.
With
medicinal cannabis insurance coverage and home cultivation rights, there will
be an ample supply of affordable and regulated cannabis for consumers in New
Jersey.
That's
the American way to deal with competition--undercut the prices of the black-market
and put them out of business. This will allow the legal cannabis industry to
thrive.
Ken
Wolski, RN, MPA
219
Woodside Ave., Trenton, NJ 08618
609.394.2137
June
10, 2025
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