skip to Main Content
New Jersey Moves Quickly (Finally) To Establish A Cannabis Regulatory Commission

Three days after New Jersey voters approved a referendum to legalize adult use marijuana, New Jersey’s Governor announced the appointment of the leaders of the newly forming Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC).  The creation of the CRC was called for under New Jersey’s amended medical cannabis act adopted in 2019 but had not yet been established. The CRC will regulate all aspects of medical cannabis in New Jersey and is expected to take on regulation of adult use cannabis once legislation is passed.

Governor Murphy announced that Dianna Houenou will be the Chair of the CRC and Jeff Brown will be its Executive Director.

The selection of Houenou as the Chair demonstrates the Murphy Administration’s commitment to ensuring that the cannabis industry in New Jersey will meet the social and racial justice goals touted since he took office.

Houenou is a former policy counsel for the ACLU of New Jersey and was a leading advocate for marijuana reform in New Jersey, where ACLU research showed black people are nearly 3.5 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than white people, despite similar rates of usage.  It is expected that, with Houenou at the helm, the CRC will take real steps to ensure that communities historically negatively impacted by the war on drugs will benefit from the legalization of marijuana.

Her appointment also should be a signal to the MSOs that if they want to participate in New Jersey, they will need to find a way to demonstrate to the CRC that they will help achieve the Murphy Administration’s goals of ensuring legalization is equitable, fair and inclusive of all communities, especially those disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs.

Jeff Brown is currently an Assistant Commissioner at the NJ Department of Health overseeing the Division of Medical Marijuana. Governor Murphy appointed him to be the first Executive Director of the CRC. Under Brown’s leadership, New Jersey’s medical marijuana program has grown rapidly over the last two-and-a-half years, now with approximately 95,000 registered patients.

The CRC is a five-member commission appointed by the Governor, with one member recommended by the President of the State Senate and one member recommended by the Speaker of the General Assembly. Under the 2019 New Jersey medical cannabis act, the CRC is obligated to promulgate new rules within 180 days. The act then affords the CRC another 90 days after the adoption of the regulations to begin accepting and processing applications for new medical cannabis cultivators, manufacturers and dispensaries. With legislation expected to be introduced soon to legalize adult use marijuana in New Jersey, the clock is beginning to tick for those interested in participating in the next rounds of the New Jersey cannabis industry.

Sean Mack

Sean Mack

Sean Mack is the co-chair of Pashman Stein Walder Hayden’s Litigation practice and chair of the Cannabis and Hemp practice.

With significant experience counseling business owners in complex disputes, and recognition on the InsideNJ “Insider 100 Cannabis Power List” in 2019, Mack brings a unique set of skills to businesses interested in cannabis and hemp. Beginning in 2015, Mack led a team of the Firm’s attorneys to analyze existing cannabis laws and regulations to prepare proposed legislation for New Jersey United for Marijuana Reform (NJUMR). NJUMR then presented the Firm’s proposal to a state senator for incorporation into an early draft of the bill to legalize adult use marijuana in New Jersey. Building on that experience, Mack advises businesses interested in applying for medical cannabis or hemp licenses in New Jersey, and has represented other clients in appeals of the 2018 and 2019 rounds of medical marijuana license applications. He also advises companies and individuals on the specific protections afforded to medical marijuana patients under the Jake Honig Act in employment, the receipt of medical services, and real estate. Mack advises Hemp-CBD companies on state and federal laws affecting their advertising and businesses. He also works in tandem with Pashman Stein’s attorneys to offer clients counsel in the interplay between cannabis/hemp laws and corporate, employment , intellectual property and real estate laws.

Mack’s business litigation practice focuses on complex disputes involving unfair business competition in a variety of forms. He regularly represents businesses, business owners and senior executives in lawsuits involving theft of corporate opportunities, theft of trade secrets, breaches of non-competition agreements, breaches of confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, and other unfair business practices. Clients often retain Mack when a joint business venture has gone awry or when they believe it is time to divorce their business partners. Many of his cases arise from complicated contractual and licensing disputes. He also has represented clients in trademark and trade dress infringement cases and in counterfeiting cases.

He can be reached at [email protected].

This Post Has 0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Stories

CDTFA Cannabis Creditor: Myths and Truths

By Hilary Bricken, Attorney at Husch Blackwell Dealing with creditors is never a fun experience. However, some creditors are more severe than others, especially in the cannabis industry. One of…

If FL Supreme Court approves cannabis ballot language, will voters go for recreational weed or not?

The long wait on whether Floridians will get a chance to vote to legalize recreational cannabis for adults 21 and older is almost over, as the Florida Supreme Court is…

Missouri strips marijuana licenses connected to company accused of predatory behavior

Missouri’s health department on Wednesday stripped two coveted marijuana micro-licenses tied to an out-of-state company that had been accused of predatory practices and had listed the licenses for resale. The…

Dug In: Big Island Grown’s Deep Cannabis Roots

Big Island Grown (BIG) is a vertically integrated cannabis company based in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii County, on the Big Island of Hawaii, whose reach now extends to several islands in the…

More Categories

Back To Top
×Close search
Search