New Jersey regulators began accepting applications for recreational marijuana retail licenses this week and received almost 200 submissions on the first day.
According to a news release from the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC), the agency wound up with 172 applications by 4 p.m. ET Tuesday.
The CRC will continue accepting applications on a “rolling basis.”
The application window follows the December launch of licensing for other business types, such as cultivation, manufacturing and testing labs.
“Since the (online application) portal opened in December, potential cannabis entrepreneurs have been establishing accounts and beginning the application process, so we did not see the flurry of new accounts being set up today as we did on Dec. 15,” CRC Executive Director Jeff Brown said in a statement.
“What we saw were applicants who were already familiar with the system and ready to apply.”
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The first retail permits are reserved for “social equity businesses, diversely-owned businesses, microbusinesses, and conditional license applicants,” according to the CRC release.
Adult-use sales are expected to begin in New Jersey within “weeks,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in late February.
