When New Jersey voters went to the polls in November 2020, the message was loud and clear: legalize cannabis and do it the right way — with fairness, opportunity, and redemption for communities harmed most by the War on Drugs. What we’re witnessing today is a clear case of New Jersey cannabis injustice, as the promise of equity is being systematically dismantled.
We were promised a future where minority-owned, women-owned, veteran-owned, and formerly incarcerated individuals would be prioritized in the cannabis industry. Through the Social Equity Program, New Jersey’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) was given the power and responsibility to ensure that legalization served as a tool for empowerment, not exploitation.
But now, just a few years into legalization, it’s painfully clear: New Jersey’s cannabis rollout has been hijacked by municipal corruption, CRC’s lack of protection, and a complete abandonment of the people this program was designed to support.
Municipalities Favoring Big Business Over Social Equity Applicants
The first red flag is happening right at the local level. Municipalities across the state are quietly making deals with large, well-established cannabis corporations while ignoring or outright rejecting qualified social equity applicants. Despite CRC guidelines encouraging towns to give priority to these applicants, many municipalities are manipulating their processes to fast-track deals with big-money players.
This New Jersey cannabis injustice is playing out in real-time. Take Aberdeen, for example. The town opted out of cannabis sales for years, only to quietly change its ordinance in early 2025. Instead of opening the process to the public or informing social equity applicants who had been patiently waiting, they rushed through approvals for two of the largest brands in New Jersey — awarding them licenses within just two days of application. This isn’t just poor governance — it’s blatant favoritism and corruption.
The CRC’s Misguided Focus
What makes this even more frustrating is that the very agency tasked with protecting small businesses and ensuring a fair industry — the CRC — has been largely silent on these issues. Rather than using their authority to hold municipalities accountable or defend social equity applicants from exclusion, the CRC has chosen to focus its energy elsewhere: targeting small businesses for petty infractions and slapping them with outrageous fines.
This growing New Jersey cannabis injustice is forcing small operators, many of whom are already struggling to survive against well-funded competitors, into impossible situations. They’re punished for minor violations like:
- Leaving a door open at their facility.
- Hosting community events and providing free samples — something large corporations do under the guise of “educational sessions.”
- Administrative errors that result in penalties rather than guidance.
Meanwhile, large corporations continue to enjoy smooth sailing, cozy relationships with municipalities, and no meaningful oversight.
It feels like a betrayal. And it is.
This Is Not What New Jersey Voted For
New Jersey voters did not approve legalization so that a handful of wealthy corporations could dominate the market. We voted for a fair, equitable system that gives everyone a chance — especially those who were most hurt by decades of cannabis criminalization.
The current situation reflects the depth of New Jersey cannabis injustice. Small businesses, many led by passionate entrepreneurs from our own communities, are being strangled by bureaucracy, targeted by the very agency meant to support them, and boxed out by municipal backroom deals.
Enough is enough.
A Call to Action
The CRC needs to wake up. New Jersey’s cannabis landscape is becoming exactly what we feared it would: monopolized by large corporations, while the true social equity applicants are left to fend for themselves.
This unchecked New Jersey cannabis injustice must end now.
We’re calling on the CRC to:
- Stop penalizing small businesses for petty violations.
- Start holding municipalities accountable for their shady practices.
- Actively protect and defend social equity applicants as the law and program intended.
- Use their power to create a truly fair, transparent, and accessible cannabis industry in New Jersey.
Our state deserves better. Our communities deserve better. And the small businesses who took a leap of faith believing in New Jersey’s promise deserve much better.
It’s time to return to the reason we legalized cannabis in the first place: to repair the damage done, to create opportunity for all, and to build an industry that lifts up New Jersey as a whole — not just the highest bidder. Still interested? Read more here.
