“More and more medical patients are seeking alternative access or simply rejecting the notion of paying for a product in addition to seeing a physician.”
By Sophie Nieto-Munoz, New Jersey Monitor
New Jersey’s medical marijuana program, which has been around for a decade, is shrinking each month as the recreational cannabis industry takes off.
data shows that medical marijuana sales have dropped by nearly half in the last six months. also reports that more than 20,000 people have left the program since May 2022 when it was at its height.
Experts say this is to be expected in a state that now offers recreational cannabis. However, they urge the state’s agencies and the Legislature to continue highlighting the importance of medical marijuana.
Ken Wolski is the director of Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey. He said that it’s not uncommon for medical programs, which are often more expensive than other options, to be cut back. “More and more medical patients are finding alternative access or simply rejecting the notion of paying for the product in addition to seeing a physician.”
Jeff Brown is executive director of the Cannabis Regulatory Commission. This agency oversees the recreational and medical marijuana program in the state. He attributed the decline in patients to the rise of the recreational cannabis market. This is because it doesn’t require buyers to go to a doctor.
In January 2010, Governor Jon Corzine (D) signed it into law. Jon Corzine, (D), signed the law into law in January 2010, In 2012, the first medical dispensary in the state opened. Now, there are more than 40 medical card holders who can purchase from these dispensaries.
The cost of a medical marijuana card is up to $100 per two-year certification. A wide range of medical conditions can be used to qualify for a card, from anxiety and migraines to muscular dystrophy or multiple sclerosis. A medical card used to cost $200, and was only available to patients with severe medical conditions.
Medical marijuana patients also get exclusive benefits, including discounts, tax waivers, increased purchase limits, and the option to buy medical marijuana in other states.
Brown said that the CRC regularly conducts outreach in order to “make these advantages public.”
The medical program grew to 129,000 patients in the year prior to the launch of adult-use sales. By June, this number had dropped to 105,000. Medical sales in the third quarter 2022 were $61 million. By the first quarter 2023, that figure had dropped to $34 millions.
Todd Johnson, executive Director of the New Jersey Cannabis Trade Association, called it a “staggering” decline of 45 percent.
In June, he told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the medical-only dispensaries were “desperate” for expansion because their sales had plummeted.
He said that New Jersey was also slow in boosting the recreational market. In the last three month, only $179 million was sold in The Garden State. Johnson stated that Missouri, a state about two-thirds the size New Jersey, sold $256 million in its first three-month period.
He said that New Jersey needed to act to improve the cannabis market and make it more accessible to operators. Otherwise, they would fail due to bureaucracy or unnecessarily expensive operating costs.
Wolski commended CRC’s prioritization of medical patients, as the recreational market took hold. He said that the CRC’s patient-only hours, parking spaces, and priority cannabis access were crucial for medical marijuana shoppers.
He said there is still room for growth, like home-grown marijuana. The two bills that were introduced to the Legislature create a program for home cultivation. One is for medical patients only and Another is for anyone who wishes to grow their own marijuana, with a maximum of six plants. Both bills have not moved past committee.
New Jersey is one of only two states with a medical marijuana program that does not allow patients to cultivate their own marijuana. In New Jersey, growing one cannabis plant is punishable by up to five years of prison and a fine of $25,000
Wolski stated that growing a few plants would make it cheaper for patients and also ensure that strains specific to the patient’s condition, or combination of ailments would be available.
Gardening is also therapeutic. He added, “You get twice as much bang for your money.”
Wolski wants insurance companies to cover medical cannabis, and he hopes that hospitals will be more willing to offer it. He said that many people in prisons and psychiatric institutions would qualify for medical marijuana and could benefit from it.
He added that New Jersey’s weed is among the most expensive in the country, and people may still turn to the legacy market if they want bulk deals or better prices. He said that street marijuana does not have to meet the same strict testing standards as the dispensaries in the state.
He said that with patience, the recreational market will become a model in the rest of the nation. “I have to give this market a lot of credit.”
The original publication of this story was New Jersey Monitor.
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The article New Jersey medical marijuana market shrinks as recreational sales grow first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
