Sign New Jersey Banking Agreement Now

Industry sign banking new jersey agreement now

if you thought getting the enabling legislation was a long strange trip get ready for the real heavy lift standing up a cannabis industry from scratch legal adult use cannabis now is a thing bill caruso is an attorney and cannabis legalization advocate there's no legal supply out there there's a ton of black market supply that still exists and for the time being that will continue and there's also uh supply that's diverted from legal jurisdictions into our state which has been the status quo since well forever but a lot of people who voted for legal cannabis back in november about two-thirds of voters not to mention the potential thousands of merchants who want to get in on the ground floor are wondering when's the stuff going to be available the answer is maybe a little later than sooner the plan right now is to get the current medical providers to ramp up production to fill the immediate demand we're looking at around summer optimistically shia broad chandler is ceo of the harmony foundation which runs the harmony dispensary in sea caucus they're planning two more hudson county locations this year with the full intention of being a primary supplier in north jersey and the tri-state area but he says the line between now and then is not necessarily straight first thing that needs to happen is we need to expand our cultivation capacity so we have growing plants that take several months to grow so we have to expand outfit the facility grow additional products test them and then we can bring them to market so that would take some time to get all of that underway obviously there's a new commission um and a new regulatory arm within the state to regulate the adult use market so that has to come to life they have to put their policies and regulations together while we expand our cultivation and then we'll have the capacity to bring it to market growers and dispensaries and wholesalers and delivery services you know there's an infrastructure framework here to really have a very robust uh industry which should employ a ton of people and should provide a ton of cash for businesses tax revenue for the state tax revenue from municipalities so i am very optimistic but not everyone is optimistic about the crc whose final members were appointed just last week for an effort that was supposed to be as much about social justice and equity as about economics not a single representative of the community most adversely affected by the so-called war on drugs black men is represented on the commission it's appalling it's heartbreaking it's infuriating and it's just flat out unjust charles boyer is a pastor and founder of salvation and social justice we've seen how the state has failed horribly in the medical space where there were black applicants that they have shut out and it has everything to do with having these blind spots around race if there's a black man on a commission who has some experience regarding being targeted also understanding the very communities where people have been shut out economically they can try to bring some recommendations and some viewpoints into that space that would hopefully make the market more accessible supporters say this whole thing is a work in progress and what this industry looks like two or three years from now will likely be quite different in other words hang in there social justice and equity are just around the corner not the first time says boyer that he's heard something like that i'm david cruz nj spotlight news [Music] you