Dozens of New Jersey small marijuana businesses and advocacy groups are calling on the state legislature to allow adults to cultivate their own cannabis at home—seemingly contradicting repeated claims from the governor and legislative leaders that the reform could undermine the evolving legal marketplace.
As Gov. Phil Murphy (D), who is due to finish his term at the close of this year, has been a target for activists. They want to know where his successors will stand.
More than 50 business owners and activists, who formed the New Jersey Home Grow Coalition collective last year, sent an open letter (in English) to Senate President Nicholas Scutari, rejecting the notion that people need more time for the market to mature, before they can grow their plants.
New Jersey does not allow home-grown marijuana for medical or adult patients.
In a recent press release, Andrea Raible (co-founder of NJ Homegrow Coalition) said: “Even though our industry is growing, there’s still no way to access the strain-specific, clean medicine I require for epilepsy.” Politicians are more concerned about adult-use profits, while we’re concerned about life-threatening conditions for our plants and the possibility of prison.
In the open letter to Scutari, who has broadly championed cannabis reform but has recently resisted calls for home cultivation, the members of the New Jersey marijuana community said “discussions on home cultivation in New Jersey have stalled, attributed to allowing the industry ‘time to mature.'”
As licensed cannabis operators and stakeholders from the industry we disagree respectfully with this statement. “The legalization of home medical cultivation will have no negative impact on the state legal cannabis industry,” said they. “We strongly support the immediate and full legalization of home medical cultivation for both patients, as well as caregivers. Also, we support the introduction of additional legislation that will allow for home cultivation to be legalized safely and fairly.
Advocates and stakeholders have expressed support for an amended bill that would expand the two bills aimed at allowing medical cannabis to be grown in home. The plant limitation will now allow for “up to 100 square foot of canopy space for mature cannabis plants.”
The statement said, “This will allow the patients to cultivate a specific amount of cannabis to suit their individual needs.” The change also would reduce the risk of people abusing the law by cultivating massive marijuana plants.
In the letter, the authors urge lawmakers to vote on the proposed legislation that would legalize medical marijuana home grows for patients as quickly as possible. This will help minimize any ongoing impacts for medical cannabis patients.
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The letter states: “We support the introduction of additional legislation that will allow for home cultivation to be legalized safely and fairly.”
Chris Goldstein of NORML, who was officially pardoned for a cannabis possession charge in 2014 under Biden’s administration, said to MEDCAN24, that New Jersey legislators “have worked with large multi-state medical marijuana corporations for more than a decade.”
He said: “Each year, new laws with bipartisan support are passed to support local industries; from tax incentives to ethics rules to generous tax exemptions,” he stated. “It is time that the legislators lift their blockade and start public hearings on the home cultivation legislation.”
There is growing support, even within the cannabis industry, for the option of home-growing marijuana under New Jersey’s laws. However, the governor and important lawmakers continue to resist this.
Murphy said in late 2023 that he remains “very much open-minded” about the idea of adding a home grow option to the state’s marijuana law—but he still wants to give the licensed industry more time to mature before implementing that change.
I’m open to it. I would bet—if I were a betting man—that down the road that that’s exactly where this would land,” he said. “Having said that, I understand why it was not in our original regs because, as you know, there’s an objective that’s rightful to get the industry on its feet. And, of course, we want people who do this in a commercial sense to be successful.
Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D)’s office has recently tempered the expectations of a quick advance in home cultivation legislation. For example, NJ.com reported that Coughlin “remains committed to legal cannabis cultivation, and that sales remain exclusively on the regulated markets where strict packaging and testing requirements have been established by the state that protect consumers’ health.”
In a statement, it is stated that “despite a slower start, The Cannabis Regulatory Commission launched a regulated Marketplace which has allowed businesses and entrepreneurs to thrive throughout the Garden State.”
Murphy has been repeatedly pressed on the state’s lack of a home cultivation option, and he’s maintained his openness to the policy before and after New Jersey’s adult-use cannabis market launched in 2022.
But he didn’t offer a specific sense of how he wanted to see the industry mature before he was willing to take this issue seriously, either administratively or legally.
In the background, advocates are closely monitoring gubernatorial candidates’ cannabis records ahead of the November election, and one of those candidates—Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D)—said recently that “cannabis shouldn’t be treated any differently than other restrictions on indoor or outdoor gardening, so long as it’s not commercial and is not in a public space where minors would have access.”
Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, a Democrat, said separately that he would “fully support” the home cultivation of marijuana for recreational or medical purposes with some guardrails to help prevent commercial activity and protect the quality of life.
Fulop has a controversial policy that prohibits police officers from smoking marijuana while off duty, regardless of whether the legalization laws in their state allow it.
Steve Sweeney is running as a Democrat for governor. When asked about his position on home cultivation, Sweeney said, “I’m not an absolute no.”
He said, “It is just not for the moment until this industry gets up and running.”
So far…
Baraka – supports home grow
Fulop – supports home grow
Sweeney – does not support home grow at this time @StevenFulop @rasjbaraka @SteveSweeney_NJ— Chris Goldstein (@freedomisgreen) February 11, 2025
In New Jersey, the application process for operating a marijuana consumption lounge was officially launched last month. This was nearly a full year after New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission’s (NJCRC) rules were finalized for these lounges.
NJ-CRC member have expressed their expectation that the creation of areas for cannabis consumption will bring economic benefits to the State by increasing tax revenues from marijuana and fees.
NJ-CRC, along with releasing the application form for the new type of license, approved an increase in the cannabis fee to support the social equity program.
Also that month, regulators announced that New Jersey marijuana sales officially exceeded $1 billion for 2024.
Since the adult-use market launched in April 2022—and the number of licensed dispensaries surpassed 190—the state has seen more than $2 billion in cannabis sales.
Jeff Brown, the executive director of NJ-CRC, had predicted that the state would hit the $1 billion sales mark by the end of 2024 in an interview with MEDCAN24 last year.
The regulators have stressed they won’t let the medical cannabis program of the state fall behind, even while they support the growing recreational market. To that end, the commission eliminated the cost of obtaining a medical cannabis card.
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Side Pocket Images. Photo by Chris Wallis.
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