New Jersey residents are ready, willing and waiting for Governor Phil Murphy to legalize recreational marijuana. Though he hasn’t had hearings on either cannabis legalization bill as of yet, Murphy has already signed an executive order to improve and expand the medical marijuana program and while still on the campaign trail, Murphy was very vocal about his support for adult use.
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Related Story: New Jersey Could Have Legal Marijuana Before April 2018
Ahead of the Garden State going legal, the New Jersey Cannabis Symposium was held in Newark, NJ. Unlike previous years when a couple hundred people sat comfortably in a small space within the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, this year over 800 people packed into the NJPAC theater and the mood was through the roof high.
Hearings or no, an adult use, recreational Bill is expected to pass and be signed into law by June of this year. Though the landscape for cannabis use has been bleak the last eight years with Chris Christie in office doing his best to quell even medicinal use, things are looking up indeed and activists, experts and advocates are jumping on Murphy’s train of promises. It’s refreshing to see New Jersey residents so positive about the future of a social program and economy booster.
If there’s anything the symposium teaches us, it is that if you’re hoping to turn a profit in the soon to be legalized landscape and you haven’t started yet, you may be running a little late. According to app.com, Clifton resident and symposium attendee Scott Landsperger is already a year into planning for coming legalization. As a swimming pool company owner, he has already committed by doing due diligence. He has built a team and is at the ready to apply for a retail license on day one, the same day anyone hoping to prosper should be ready.
“It’s an industry that it doesn’t matter what your store looks like, people are going to find you and come to you. It’s an opportunity that doesn’t come along very often,” said Landsperger. And he’s absolutely correct. With both bills proposing one retail license per county, at least to begin with, it’s best to be prepared to hit the ground running.
And Landsperger is also right about having built a great team around him. With cannabis still a Schedule I drug, making it illegal at the federal level, working with people who have had background checks and who’ve you’ve done some serious research on is going to be beyond important. Build a team you can trust, no matter what part of the industry you’re hoping to enter, then ready yourselves for day one applications with i’s dotted and t’s crossed and keep that enthusiasm high. It may not be legal yet, but with Murphy in office, the future looks bright.
