Enforcement of new NJ hemp rules delayed by court order

That deadline has come and gone, but it appears there will be no enforcement from the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission.

An email from CRC communications director Toni-Anne Blake on Monday said the provisions of the law set to take effect Oct. 12 would be put on hold due to a court order issued days earlier after a legal challenge to the law.

The law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy on Sept. 12 immediately banned the sale of any product containing a detectable amount of THC, the chemical in marijuana that provides the “high,” to any person under 21. That remains in effect, but the law provided a timeline to end the sale of the intoxicating beverages and other products outside of the state’s licensed cannabis dispensaries.

“The state is unable to begin enforcement of these provisions at this time,” the email from Blake reads. “However, the provisions prohibiting sale to those under 21 remain in effect.”

Complaints had been raised about the sale of intoxicating products to those under 21, slipping through the gaps in the patchwork of federal and state regulations.

New Jersey voters approved marijuana legalization in 2020, setting the stage for the approval of more than 100 cannabis dispensaries statewide, including businesses in Atlantic and Cape May County.

But technically, the THC in the beverages on local shelves is not derived from marijuana or cannabis, but from hemp. They are all the same plant, but hemp has long been used in manufacturing and is legally defined by its low concentration of THC.

A federal farm bill eased legal restrictions, allowing the sale of multiple products created from hemp, including those that concentrate hemp’s THC and closely related compounds into something that provides a similar experience.

While New Jersey and several other states seek to limit sales of these products, and to steer potential adult consumers toward the licensed dispensaries, it leads to the remarkable situation where the state says a drug that is illegal can be sold and used by adults, while seeking to limit a similar drug from the same species of plant that the feds have cleared.

More than half of Americans live in states that have legalized cannabis, while federal legalization appears closer than ever. Both major party presidential candidates have hinted at support rescheduling marijuana at the federal level, and on Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, pledged to legalize marijuana nationally if elected.