NJ legal weed activists: After three years, why can't we grow marijuana at home?

Mike Davis, Asbury Park Press
·4 min read
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TRENTON - Three years after marijuana became legal in New Jersey, activists have made their position clear: The work isn't done — not by a long shot.

Dozens of cannabis consumers, entrepreneurs and medical marijuana patients gathered on the lawn of the New Jersey Statehouse on Thursday morning, chanting for legislators to "free the weed, free the people" and finally pass a law allowing people — especially patients — to grow cannabis at home.

"Replacing 100,000 arrests with 100 dispensaries is definitely worth celebrating, but a lot of us are hesitant to celebrate when patients and legacy providers are still caught in the crossfire of prohibition," said Andrea Raible, who said she uses medical marijuana to treat her epilepsy and brain damage, but can't find the appropriate strains at licensed dispensaries.

"If I were to try and grow a plant at home, I would potentially have five to 10 years in prison. It's tough to remain hopeful when things look this bad, but these last three years have shown that change is not only possible — it's inevitable."

Cannabis activists march to the New Jersey Statehouse on Feb. 22, 2204, to commemorate three years since the state legalized marijuana for recreational purposes and to call for a new law allowing medical marijuana patients to grow cannabis at home.
Cannabis activists march to the New Jersey Statehouse on Feb. 22, 2204, to commemorate three years since the state legalized marijuana for recreational purposes and to call for a new law allowing medical marijuana patients to grow cannabis at home.

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New Jersey is one of only four states with legal weed markets that don't allow consumers to grow cannabis at home. And of the 24 states to legalize it, New Jersey is one of only two that doesn't even allow an exception for registered medical marijuana patients. Delaware patients are also barred from growing cannabis at home.

The push for home grow has always been led by patient advocates, who argue that allowing even a limited number of homegrown cannabis plants would help patients avoid the exorbitant costs at dispensaries (an eighth-ounce of cannabis costs about $45 to $60 at most New Jersey dispensaries).

Opponents have said allowing home grow would hinder the regulated New Jersey cannabis industry. In 2022, Senate President Nick Scutari, D-Union, told a group of cannabis business owners and entrepreneurs that the cannabis industry needed time — "it's not even off the ground yet," he said — before home grow could be considered. And in November, Scutari told NJ Advance Media that he expected such a move to happen but he "(didn't) think we're ready yet."

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But for at least some small cannabis business owners, such a change would be welcome.

"Who knows what can come from it? Who knows the next strain someone might invent?" said Rob Ryder, owner of the forthcoming Mad Hatter dispensary in Woodbridge. "As a company, you should always be afraid of the guy in the garage because he could produce something better — and that might be better for everybody overall. From our standpoint, we say 'bring it on.'"

Baked by the River dispensary owner Jesse Marie Villars, at microphone, calls for New Jersey legislators to pass a law allowing consumers and patients to grow cannabis at home during a rally at the New Jersey Statehouse on Feb. 22, 2024.
Baked by the River dispensary owner Jesse Marie Villars, at microphone, calls for New Jersey legislators to pass a law allowing consumers and patients to grow cannabis at home during a rally at the New Jersey Statehouse on Feb. 22, 2024.

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"Legislators are using the legal industry as a reason for why home grow is not legal yet, saying we need to give the industry a chance to get up on their feet," said Jesse Marie Villars, owner of the Baked by the River dispensary in Lambertville. "As a small business owner in the industry, that's not the case. In no other state where cannabis has been legalized has home grow impacted the legal industry at all."

But in the Garden State, growing one cannabis plant is still punishable by up to five years in prison and a $25,000 fine — just as it was before two-thirds of voters approved legal weed in November 2020.

The activists' rally preceded an afternoon hearing by the Assembly Oversight Committee on the state of the cannabis industry. It wasn't long before discussion turned to home grow, with Assemblyman Roy Freiman, D-Somerset, calling it a "huge quality of life issue" for medical marijuana patients.

"We started on the path of caring for patients, and I wouldn't want to lose sight of the patients who are out there and making sure we're doing everything we can," Freiman said.

Cannabis Regulatory Commission Executive Director Jeff Brown encouraged legislators to research it but declined to offer his opinion on whether such a law should be adopted.

"We certainly hear (from patients) all the time," he said.

There are existing bills proposed in both the Senate and Assembly which would allow medical marijuana patients to grow up to four mature and four immature cannabis plants at home. Despite sponsorship from both Democrats and Republicans, neither has received a committee hearing since they were first introduced last session.

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Mike Davis has spent the last decade covering New Jersey local news, marijuana legalization, transportation and basically whatever else is going on at any given moment. Contact him at mdavis@gannettnj.com or @byMikeDavis on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ legal weed: Activists call for home grow law on 3-year anniversary