As stated above, cannabis business licenses are considered privileged business licenses. With few exceptions, most states only issue a limited number of these privileged licenses. Therefore, it is important for cannabis business owners to meet and maintain the ownership requirements for their state. While each state may have its own quirks with regards to ownership requirements when applying for a license, it is important to remember that the goal is to identify companies whose ownership can demonstrate the ability to operate a facility according to state regulations without risking diversion of product or threats to public safety. An unfortunate side effect to this level of precaution in the earliest days of the cannabis industry led to several restrictions that hampered efforts at social equity in the cannabis space. At this time, social equity has become more than a buzzword in the cannabis industry. Social equity measures in recent legislation like that of New Jersey, have been designed to address a distinct lack of diversity in ownership and management of cannabis businesses industry-wide.
3 Ways New Jersey is Addressing Cannabis Social Equity
New Jersey is making strides to address the cannabis social equity issue in their state in three ways. The first is to have one member minimum on the cannabis regulatory commission who is a member of a national social justice or civil rights group. The second is to rename the Office of Minority, Disabled-Veterans, and Women Medical Cannabis Business Development by dropping the word “Medical”. According to the report “State of the States: New Jersey March 2021” this Office’s job will be to aid in crafting licensing criteria to ensure that no less than 30% of new licenses awarded are awarded to minority, disabled veteran, or women owners. The third way New Jersey is addressing the social equity issue in licensing is by developing criteria to address diversity to promote licensing of persons “from socially and economically disadvantaged communities, and minority businesses and women’s businesses.” In short, New Jersey is putting in place a framework to actively work towards greater social equity in their Adult-Use Cannabis market. So far all of these measures are part of the law designed to create a framework for this industry.
The regulations have yet to be written for the Adult-Use market. Why is that important to note? Cannabis regulations aren’t written in a vacuum. These regulations are often the result of numerous public meetings where industry participants, activists, lawyers, and regulators will sit in a room and hammer out what the rules and regulations for the industry should look like. We pride ourselves on understanding how this process works, providing input where it’s appropriate, and informing our clients of new and evolving regulations as we become aware of them. The goal as always is to ensure that our clients are prepared to compete for these privileged licenses and operate efficient and compliant cannabis businesses.
New Jersey Cannabis Industry Opportunities
New Jersey currently presents a tremendous opportunity for anyone looking to get into the Adult-Use cannabis market there. Currently, its neighboring states have not yet legalized Adult-Use sales. This provides New Jersey with the economic advantage as well as the novelty of being first. Experienced cannabis consultants provide cannabis business owners with valuable insights, proven methods, and peace of mind. This is especially true in the privileged license application process. A typical privilege license application process in the cannabis industry can be a very stressful, labor-intensive, and expedited process. Owners and application writers generally have a very narrow window of time in which to prepare volumes of information about the owners, the business structure, operational processes, facility design, and potential community impact of a proposed cannabis business. In a competitive selection process, the importance of having experienced professionals on your side cannot be overstated. Successful cannabis business applicants all have strong application teams in common with experience in project management, content creation, strong technical writing skills, and above all else incredible attention to detail.
Psycann Advisors’ team of trusted industry professionals have the experience of long hours spent crafting and perfecting privileged license submissions under tight deadlines. With skill and passion, our cannabis consulting experts have what it takes to provide your cannabis company with its best chance at success at winning a privileged license as well as building a strong foundation for long term growth and success. Put our experience to work for your company from vision to reality.