New Jersey must live up to its promise of fair and equitable cannabis legalization

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When New Jersey legalized cannabis in 2021, the new law promised that the communities most harmed by marijuana criminalization would benefit from revenue generated by cannabis sales. Now, this promise is under threat as decisionmakers debate the future of a key revenue collection measure. Send a message to state leaders to ensure that New Jersey lives up to its promise of fair and equitable cannabis legalization.

Message Recipients:
Members of the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission
Governor Phil Murphy
Senate President Nicholas Scutari
Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin
Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz

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Subject

In 2021, New Jersey legalized cannabis with the promise of investing revenue into communities most harmed by decades of marijuana criminalization. This was a core piece of New Jersey’s cannabis legalization law, which promised to center racial and social justice. A key component of this commitment was the collection of the Social Equity Excise Fee (SEEF), which promised that 100 percent of all revenue collected would go back to communities most harmed.

The law and regulations set the SEEF purposefully low at the start – just $1.24 per ounce in 2024 – in order to allow the new industry to grow, with the promise that a higher fee would be implemented in the future to meet the need for meaningful community reinvestment. As such, in March 2024, the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) reported that the state’s adult-use cannabis market had achieved $1.3 billion in cannabis sales from April 2022 to March 2024. During that same period of time, less than $4 million was raised through the SEEF for community reinvestment.

Message Body

At the CRC’s public hearing on October 30, I urge commissioners to adjust the SEEF in accordance with the 2022 regulations that prescribed a SEEF of $10-60 depending on the average retail cost per ounce of cannabis. In the instance that the average retail cost per ounce of usable cannabis is between $250-350, the SEEF is set to $30 per ounce. To do otherwise would leave millions of dollars on the table that should be invested back into Black and Latinx communities that have borne the brunt of the drug war. Ignoring the law’s promise would also set a precedent for future CRC commissioners and elected officials to disregard the reparative goals of cannabis legalization.

In addition to raising the SEEF, I also encourage the CRC and lawmakers to create a public tool that tracks the funding set aside for community reinvestment and how it is being used to support new resources and opportunities, as well as an annual report on cannabis community reinvestment that tracks how reinvestment dollars are used over time.

This moment calls for action and leadership. New Jersey can lead the way in making sure that the communities most harmed by marijuana criminalization do not get left behind. I urge you to work with your colleagues to increase the SEEF and to ensure that New Jersey lives up to its promise of fair and equitable cannabis legalization.

Sincerely,

[First Name] [Last Name]

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New Jersey must live up to its promise of fair and equitable cannabis legalization

Act Now

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