Officials in New Jersey this week announced that more than 1,000 people have enrolled in the state’s Cannabis Training Academy (CTA), which is designed to support entrepreneurs interested in entering the legal marijuana industry.
Launched in October of last year, the technical assistance program is free of cost to participants and covers processes around applying for a business license, obtaining municipal approval, raising capital and navigating issues like zoning and day-to-day operations. The program is supported by the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (NJ-CRC).
Courses are online, which the Department of State’s NJ Business Action Center (NJBAC) says allows those enrolled to complete the academy at their own pace. Programming consists of pre-recorded webinars as well as live Q&A sessions with instructors. In-person workshops are also forthcoming, according to NJBAC.
“The number of CTA registrations, in just a few short months after launch, underscores the real-world demand for commercial cannabis education, one that is supported by the state’s regulatory arm, the NJ-CRC,” noted Melanie Willoughby, executive director of the NJBAC.
The academy is aimed at promoting equity in the state’s legal cannabis industry, with a press release noting that the program “is specifically designed to help those who qualify as members of target Impact Zones, as defined in the CREAMM Act and subsequent NJ-CRC rules.”
The first three modules of the academy are open to any New Jersey resident 21 and older, while additional modules are available to people who either reside in designated impact zones or are planning to establish a business or hire from within the zones.
“Those who live in a CRC-designated Impact Zone, plan to locate their future cannabis business in an Impact Zone, or plan to hire future employees from Impact Zone locations can expand their learning base with an additional seven levels of coursework and more than 60 classes,” the press release says.
In a statement, Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way (D) said the Cannabis Training Academy “offers invaluable resources that help small business owners go through the process of legal cannabis business management.”
“The insights provided will help entrepreneurs avoid common pitfalls and get their business on the right track from the start,” Way said. “With the right knowledge and tools, we are fostering a more inclusive and sustainable cannabis industry in New Jersey.”
Registration for the program is still open, officials noted.
Meanwhile in New Jersey, dozens small marijuana businesses and advocacy groups are calling on the state legislature to allow adults to cultivate their own cannabis at home—pushing back against repeated claims from the governor and legislative leaders that the reform could undermine the evolving legal marketplace.
The more than 50 businesses and advocates, which formed a collective known as the New Jersey Home Grow Coalition last year, signed an open letter to Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D), rejecting the idea that the market needs more time to mature before people can be permitted to grow their own plants for personal use.
Unlike most other states that have enacted cannabis legalization, New Jersey continues to prohibit home cultivation for adults or medical marijuana patients.
Gov. Phil Murphy (D) 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 that he still wanted to give the licensed industry more time to mature before implementing that change.
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.
Meanwhile, last month applications officially opened to operate a licensed marijuana consumption lounge in New Jersey. That came nearly a year after NJ-CRC finalized rules for the lounges.
NJ-CRC members have said they expect the addition of cannabis consumption areas will have a positive economic benefit for the state by generating more tax revenue from marijuana sales and annual fees.
In December, in addition to releasing application forms for the new license type, NJ-CRC also approved a cannabis fee increase to support the state’s 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 Marijuana Moment last year.
Regulators have also stressed that they will not be letting the state’s medical cannabis system fall by the wayside even as they work to support the burgeoning recreational market. To that end, the commission eliminated the cost of obtaining a medical cannabis card.
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Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.
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