Laws and Rules Pertaining to Cannabis
On January 18, 2010, outgoing governor Jon Corzine signed a number of bills into law on his last day in office, including S. 119, the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, permitting the use of medical cannabis for persons with listed conditions: cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, seizure disorder, Lou Gehrig’s disease, severe muscle spasms, muscular dystrophy, inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s disease and any terminal illness (defined as an illness for which a physician certifies that the patient will die within one year). The law allows the New Jersey health department to create rules to add other illnesses to the list.
Ultimately, a separate medical marijuana expansion measure, the Jake Honig Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Act, passed the legislature and was signed into law by Governor Phil Murphy in July 2019. The legislation greatly expanded the number of slots for medical cannabis providers; created a Cannabis Regulatory Commission, which took over supervision of the medical cannabis program from the state Health Department; made it easier to patients to obtain medical cannabis by reducing the required frequency of medical eligibility verifications from four times a year to once a year; allowed patients to purchase more cannabis at any given point (increasing the limit from 2 ounces to 3 ounces for 18 months, with limitations to be thereafter determined by the Cannabis Regulatory Commission, and with no limit for terminally ill patients); authorized nursing homes and hospice centers to obtain cannabis from dispensaries on behalf of patients; and allowed medical cannabis patients from outside New Jersey to buy medicine while visiting New Jersey for up to six months.[28]
Passed in 2021 New Jersey’s Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization (CREAMM) Act allows for the legal sale and use of cannabis and cannabis products for residents 21 years and older.
- 28.35 grams (1 ounce) of dried flower, or
- 4 grams of solid cannabis concentrates or resin, or the equivalant of 4 grams of concentrate in liquid form (solution in milliliters), or
- 4 grams of vaporized formulations (oil), or
- 1000 mg of multiple ingestible cannabis-infused products (10 100 mg packages) like gummies
A purchase of a combination of products may be 1/2 ounce of dried flower plus 2 grams of concentrate, or 5 packages of gummies and 1/2 ounce of dried flower.
Legally allowable product categories include dried flower, concentrated oils, resin, vape formulas, tinctures, topicals, syringes, lozenges, and soft chews, but availability will vary by dispensary. Perishable edibles like cookies and brownies are not available for purchase from any dispensary.
You may smoke in private spaces, however landlords may prohibit cannabis use on their property.
Home Grow is not currently permitted in New Jersey despite grass roots efforts.
It is still illegal to drive under the influence of cannabis to the extent that your normal faculties are impaired. Be careful.
And remember since Cannabis is still federally illegal, a person should not transfer cannabis over state lines.