Assemblyman Reed Gusciora intends to introduce a new marijuana legalization bill within the next week that would limit New Jersey to 80 retail dispensary licenses for the entire state, an official from Gusciora’s office confirmed today.
The new bill was written based off of State Senator Nicholas Scutari’s legalization bill.
“[Scutari’s] bill was a jumping off point when we thought about what we wanted to do,” Gusciroa’s Chief of Staff Brendan Neal said. “[We had] conversations with advocates and stakeholders, people who’ve had experience in other states where legal marijuana has been approved — we found there were a couple of problems.”
Neal said that the new bill would address the issue of homegrown marijuana and an emphasis on expunging criminal records related to marijuana convictions, both of which were absent in Scutari’s bill and criticized by industry experts.
The bill’s limit of 80 retail dispensaries for New Jersey’s 9 million residents has been criticized by Staffa, who says number is far too low, noting Denver has roughly 800 retail dispensaries for a city of less than 700,000 residents.
Neal said they were aware of the criticism but didn’t plan on expanding the number based on what has happened in other states that offered more licenses.
“The unlimited proliferation of marijuana shops has been detrimental because it starts this race to the bottom,” Neal said. “You’re trying to produce cheaper products at a lower price point to compete with the influx of businesses.”
The 80 licenses would be distributed amongst the 40 legislative districts in New Jersey, allowing two licenses per district to distribute dispensaries proportional to population centers. Neal said the bill would set up a Division of Marijuana Enforcement which could potentially expand the number of licenses based on market analysis.
