Sean Mack Quoted in NJBIZ.com Article Discussing Outstanding Issues Following Release of CRC's Initial Regulations for Adult-Use Market
Sean Mack, partner and Co-Chair of the Cannabis & Hemp Law practice at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, was quoted in the NJBIZ.com article “After Cannabis Regulatory Commission releases regs, some questions remain.” The article discusses outstanding issues following the release of the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission’s initial regulations for adult-use market.
It is also unknown if there will be a cap on licensing, noted Sean Mack, co-chair of Pashman Stein Walder Hayden’s cannabis and hemp practice.
“If they really want the marketplace to dictate who the winners and losers are, it’s up to the groups to prove themselves in the marketplace. It wouldn’t surprise me if there are no caps,” Mack said. “The reality is, we had so many towns opt-out. And for some of those towns [that opted in], unless the towns did something like Jersey City which was reduce their zone to 200 feet [from a drug-free school zone], in a lot of towns there’s not a lot of options. Town-by-town restrictions are going to limit the number of locations that are viable.”
Before Jersey City changed its limit for cannabis businesses from 1,000 feet from a school to 200 from a school, Mack noted “there was almost no place not within 1,000 feet of some school.”
The CRC’s initial rules focus mostly on the requirements for owning and operating a business. They didn’t provide much clarity for towns looking for guidance to determine if they were going to”yay” oy “nay” cannabis businesses inside their borders.
“Towns that were waiting for guidance received very little today, except the regulations appear to ban host agreements and their local licensing fees must be reasonably based on the administrative cost for the issuance of the permit,” Mack said.
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