CMMNJ Monthly Meeting for January 9, 2024

  

CMMNJ Monthly Public Zoom Meeting Agenda for January 9, 2024 at 7 pm

ZOOM Meeting ID: 881 5151 1166    Passcode: 102366 Or, click: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88151511166?pwd=aEN2SytJVkVtRWgxSnNnRGxpUTlBZz09

Agenda: New Jersey Issues:

Future Cannabis Project (FCP) Presents: "New Jersey Home Cultivation Round Table" (YouTube); Panelists: • Kristen Goedde, Founder, Trichome Analytical; Andrea Raible, Founder, CaMPS (Cannabis and Medicinal Plants Society); Paul Davis, Green Dragon Hydroponics; Sam (Shramuel), Home Grow Advocate.

Marijuana sales reduce violence: NJ OAG Matt Platkin: “We’re awarding another $15M to 29 organizations providing services through community-based violence intervention programs.” Fiscal Year 2024 Appropriations Act and includes $5 million from the Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Fund.

United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 360 said Freehold, New Jersey based dispensary NJ Leaf is the newest company to organize with them. 

ButACake: Breaking barriers for Black women in the cannabis industry.

On 12/21/2023, bill S3954 was passed by the NJ Senate, 28-1, and earlier was passed by the Assembly 77-0-0. The bill would impose a $50 fine on people under 21 found with marijuana in the state and allow police to notify parents or guardians of those under 18. Lawmakers previously downgraded marijuana and alcohol possession offenses for minors out of concern that Black people are three times as likely than whites to be arrested for drug possession. Social justice advocates warned that imposing fines and requiring a minor appear in municipal court would burden low-income families and thrust young people of color into the criminal justice system. “The fines and fees don’t necessarily deter youth from engaging with these substances.”

New Jersey cannabis sales, Oct. 2021 - Sept. 2023: Since recreational marijuana sales began in April 2022, New Jerseyans have spent more and more on cannabis -- but it comes at the expense of medical marijuana sales, which have consistently decreased. 

One Year Total NJ Marijuana Sales: (Q4 2022 - Q3 2023):

Medical marijuana sales: $146,462,771

Adult use cannabis sales: $616,217,455

Total cannabis sales: $762,680,226

Opinion: No place like home to grow medical cannabis

Peter Rosenfeld is a board member of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana, New Jersey (CMMNJ). He resides in Collingswood.

In New Jersey, it is still a major crime for a legal medical cannabis patient to grow a few plants. But I want to thank state Sens. Troy Singleton, D-Burlington, and Vin Gopal, D-Monmouth; and Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, D-Mercer; for sponsoring legislation to change this situation.

Senate Bill 342 and its Assembly companion, A-997, would allow New Jersey’s medical cannabis patients to grow a small number of plants to help supplement their needs. The limits would be four mature plants and four immature ones per medical patient.

It is a real source of pride knowing that we have lawmakers trying to improve the situation of these patients. Unfortunately, these home cultivation bills have not had much traction, even to get informational hearings scheduled, since the measures are opposed by some legislative leaders.

Recently, this issue hit the media again when Gov. Phil Murphy said he would be “very open” to reversing the current homegrow ban.

But, he said, the legal cannabis market still needs to mature. This echoes legislators who are worried about the impact of home cultivation on the financial stability of commercial dispensaries. At least one legislator has also expressed fears that home cultivation would eat into dispensary sales.

Although recreational marijuana sales started less than two years ago, New Jersey’s “mature” market for the medical cannabis program was established years ago. The medical program is now 14 years old. If that is wasn’t enough time for the market to mature, I don’t know what is! Of course, now homegrow opponents have switched to stating concerns about the newer recreational market.

I wish more legislators would concede that medical cannabis dispensaries have had enough time to mature, and that we need to stop delaying home cultivation for the patients. New Jersey is one of only a couple of states that allow adult-use cannabis, but ban home cultivation, at least for medical users.

Half of our medical cannabis patients live on disability incomes, while we have some of the most expensive legal cannabis in the United States. This is not sustainable.

Even if we recognize that many of the same dispensaries serve both medical and recreational adult users, the medical component is small and shrinking, as patients drop out of the program. Instead, they are obtaining their cannabis through the general the adult-use program. This saves them the cost of registration fees and the physician visits needed to stay in the medical program.

The medical program is on track to shrink to about 10% of the total revenue for legal cannabis in our state. It is very unlikely that a small percentage of medical patients cultivating a few plants would have any noticeable effect on the dispensaries.

And, allowing home cultivation by medical patients might actually help sustain the medical cannabis program. It would give patients a strong reason to stay in the program, since many of them would still use dispensaries to supplement their home-grow harvests, both for variety and quantity.

I can’t directly address the diversion fears, other than to think that growing a handful of plants is not likely to generate enough diversion of sales from the dispensaries to worry about. This is especially true when we consider that it is legal for any adult in New Jersey to gift an ounce of legal cannabis to any other adult, and to do this repeatedly.

Any illegal diversion caused by home growing would be minuscule compared to the gift transfers that are legal. It is well beyond time to give New Jersey patients the right to legally grow a few plants.

https://www.nj.com/cannabis-insider/2023/12/issue-280-the-years-end.html

Bills

In addition, CMMNJ has some bills they’re still exerting pressure on that can help the industry. Here’s a list which include issues such as medical cannabis insurance coverage, home cultivation rights, healthcare access and expanded qualifying conditions.

Medical Cannabis Insurance bills:

• S313/A3248: Costs of medical cannabis to be reimbursed by Catastrophic Illness in Children Relief Fund, PAAD, Senior Gold and VCCO. The bills passed both Health Committees and are in the Senate and Assembly Budget and Oversight Committees. 
• S309/ A3511: Requires workers’ compensation, PIP, and health insurance coverage.
• S782 /A3932: Subsidize medical cannabis in Medicaid or NJ Family Care.

Home cultivation bills:  

• S342/A997: Authorizes home cultivation of medical cannabis.
• A1422: Legalizes possession of six marijuana plants for personal use.
• S353/A3657: Legalizes six plants for personal use and 10 plants for medical

Hospital and Institutional Access: NJ patients in hospitals, nursing homes, state institutions, group homes and hospice are unable to access medical cannabis. Patient outcomes would improve, and health care costs would be reduced if these patients had access to medical cannabis.

Upcoming Event: 

NOFA NJ’s 34th Annual Winter Conference, Douglas Student Center, Rutgers University, January 27, 2024, 8 am to 6 pm. CMMNJ will table!  

Federal Drug Policy Reform: 

President Joe Biden pardoned thousands of people last month who were convicted of use and simple possession of marijuana on federal lands and in the District of Columbia, 

The Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC):

The next CRC meeting: January 17, 11 a.m. (Virtual Meeting). Watch live on YouTube. Register to speak here by January 15th at 5 p.m. Comments will be limited to three minutes per person. You may also submit comments in writing by 1/18/24 at 5 p.m. 

Grand Openings at the Hashery Dispensary in Hackensack, Baked by the River Dispensary in Lambertville, the Voltaire Cannabis Dispensary in Mount Holly, Pure Bloss Dispensary Pennington, and Hello High Dispensary in Hammonton, and Sanctuary Medicinals Cannabis Dispensary in Scotch Plains. Now, 83 dispensaries serve recreational customers. Nine dispensaries are open only to medical marijuana users.

Medicinal Cannabis Program Participation (as of 12/15/2023)

• Total patients: 91,370
• Caregivers: 5,352
• Doctors: 1,541

Patient numbers down from about 130,000 when recreational sales started.
Medical patients used physical cards to show at dispensaries, and that will largely shift to free digital in 2024. People can still get 2-year physical cards for $10.  
Find a Dispensary in NJ.

Treasury report: 

Checking: $10,454. 

Make a tax-deductible donation via PayPal to info@cmmnj.org, or send a check to: 
CMMNJ, 219 Woodside Ave., Trenton, NJ 08618.

More info: 

Ken Wolski, RN, MPA (609) 394-2137 ohamkrw@aol.com 
Facebook: Friends of CMMNJ: https://www.facebook.com/groups/62462971150/
Website: Coalition for Medical Marijuana-New Jersey: https://www.cmmnj.org 
Twitter: @CMM_NJ
CMMNJ blog: https://cmmnj.blogspot.com/

CMMNJ awards:

2021: NJ Governor's Jefferson Award in the Volunteer Group category;
2023: NJ State Governor's Volunteerism Award in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Champion for Justice Category "for extraordinary service to your community;"
2023: Ken Wolski won a Lifetime Achievement award;
2023: NJ Senate and Assembly Joint Legislative Resolution affirmed CMMNJ's importance as a "catalyst for the legalization of both medical and recreational marijuana in the State" and paid “tribute to all who have contributed to its success and renown.”

CMMNJ, a 501(c)(3) public charity, is a non-profit educational organization.