As the devil lies in details, so too does the high abide in cannabis, or the precision of grammatical properties in laws prescribing its use.

To paraphrase Lincoln, the world will little note what New Jersey lawmakers said here on the floors of Trenton, but we will always forget what they did here, so long as a statewide cannabis fog prevails.

More to the point, however, is that people, in fact, don’t forget the effects of an amendment to the state constitution struck on January 1, 2021, which enabled the legalization of cannabis in New Jersey, signed into law on Feb. 22 of that same year by Governor Phil Murphy.

Simply put, New Jersey’s Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization (CREAMM) Act “allows for the legal sale and use of cannabis and cannabis products for residents 21 years and older.”

In each transaction, according to CREAMM, dispensaries are allowed to sell up to the equivalent of 28.35 grams or 1 ounce of usable cannabis. That means up to:

• 28.35 grams (1 ounce) of dried flower, or
• 4 grams of solid cannabis concentrates or resin, or the equivalant of 4 grams of concentrate in liquid form (solution in milliliters), or
• 4 grams of vaporized formulations (oil), or
• 1000 mg of multiple ingestible cannabis-infused products (10 100 mg packages) like gummies

So far, so good.

But, of course, that frontier surmounted didn’t put to rest other legal debates, and other Trenton battles. Most significant perhaps in the last number of weeks, a  significant group of cannabis license holders wrote a letter to the state legislature, demanding movement on the state’s so-called “homegrow” front.

The gist is this:

• Licensed cannabis and ancillary businesses and organizations support the amendment to bills S1393/A846 to allow up to 100 square feet of mature cannabis plant grow canopy area Michael (Appendix A). This would allow patients and caretakers to have the ability to properly pheno-hunt and cultivate an amount that meets individual needs. Additionally, this change would mitigate the potential for exploiting the law through the cultivation of massive cannabis plants.
• We implore the legislature to bring S1393/A846 to the committee and consider medical home cultivation for a vote as soon as possible to minimize the ongoing impact on medical cannabis patients.

So far, state senate President Nick Scutari (D-22), the original prime legislative mover of cannabis legalization, has resisted these “homegrow “calls, but they persist. At some point, the debate will come to a head, maybe without the culture-changing drama of 2021, but – conceivably – with some significance.

We’ll be watching, through the haze, but in the meantime, hope to provide clarity to that dedicated band of NJ hempsters, both the hip and the legally triumphantly tripped, in this, our 2025 list of InsiderNJ’s top cannabis advocates, voices, and players.

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