Curaleaf’s New Jersey Licenses Renewed With Conditional Approval During Emergency Meeting

New Jersey cannabis regulators called an emergency meeting April 17 and voted to renew Curaleaf’s adult-use licenses with strings attached, a decision that comes four days after  regulators originally rejected the multistate operator’s renewal certification.

RELATED: Curaleaf’s Adult-Use License Renewals Rejected in New Jersey

Two board members from the Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) who abstained from voting on April 13—and another who previously voted no—cast “yes” votes Monday to conditionally approve Curaleaf’s adult-use retail  licenses in Bellmawr and Edgewater Park, as well as the company’s cultivation and manufacturing permits for adult use. In turn, the motion passed, 4-1, and Curaleaf will be able to continue its adult-use business operations until at least June 1, when the CRC meets next.

CRC called the emergency meeting to “consider action in response to a request for a stay,” according to its website. The meeting also came as a crowd, including Curaleaf CEO Matt Darin, protested last week’s vote outside the CRC offices Monday morning in Trenton.

"Today's decision by the CRC board to vacate their unprecedented action last week is an incredible victory for our 500 NJ team members and vindication for what we knew all along: Curaleaf is in good standing with the CRC and has fulfilled every requirement necessary for the renewal of our licenses,” Darin said in an April 17 press release. “I am incredibly proud of and grateful to every one of the hundreds of dedicated team members who showed up today, not just for their jobs and livelihoods, but for a better, safer cannabis industry in New Jersey."

As a result of the emergency vote, Curaleaf will no longer have to cease adult-use retail operations later this week at its two dispensaries that were up for renewal. The one-year anniversary of adult-use sales is April 21, the date current licenses expire if they go unrenewed.

CRC Chair Dianna Houenou, one of the two commissioners who abstained from voting last week, said Monday that Curaleaf will have until the body’s next regular meeting, June 1, to meet certain conditions tied to the new decision. One of those conditions includes “evidence of good faith efforts” to negotiate collective bargaining agreements with unionized employees, Houenou said.

In addition, Curaleaf must testify under oath about its activities and tactics, and the company must also produce records or documents requested by the CRC board concerning intentions made to modify its cultivation facility operations in Bellmawr—a major concern raised by commissioners during last week’s regular meeting.

RELATED: Curaleaf Shutting Down Cultivation Facility in New Jersey

“[Curaleaf] also would be required to provide updated information regarding its good faith efforts to hire employees and vendor contractors that meet certain criteria,” Houenou said at Monday’s emergency meeting. “And if at the next regulator meeting of the board, if the board determines that Curaleaf has failed to satisfy these conditions, the board may issue any penalties allowable under regulations, which may include fines or revocation of the renewed license.”

New Jersey’s Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization (CREAMM) Act—adult-use legislation Gov. Phil Murphy signed in 2021—requires collective bargaining agreements be made in “good faith” within 200 days of opening if the majority of employees vote to authorize a union.

While more than 120 workers at Curaleaf’s dispensary in Bellmawr unionized with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 360 March 5, the company’s cultivation workers in Bellmawr were not part of that organizing effort. Often after employees choose their union representation, it takes months, or longer, for a collective bargaining agreement to be reached with an employer.

“My coworkers and I deserve to know that when we arrive at work and do right by the company, we will get fair raises and be able to speak up on issues that affect us daily,” Monica, who works at the Curaleaf Bellmawr dispensary as a retail cannabis associate, said in a UFCW press release last month. “This is why we decided as a group to join the UFCW.”

Less than three weeks later, Curaleaf announced it was winding down its cultivation operations in Bellmawr—a decision made to meet current demand and to streamline operations via a state-of-the-art cultivation facility in Winslow that became operational in 2021. That decision affected roughly 40 employees in Bellmawr, most of whom were offered other positions with Curaleaf, except for five who were “not eligible because of their job performance and other issues,” Curaleaf Chief Compliance Officer James Shorris told CRC board members April 13.

Chairwoman Houenou and Commissioner Maria Del Cid-Kosso questioned Curaleaf’s transparency on the matter during the regular meeting April 13, specifically citing the company’s failure to notify the CRC prior to making that reduction in staff and changes to operations at the Bellmawr cultivation facility, which could require the company file for amended licensure, according to New Jersey Administrative Code Section 17:30-9.2.

Before the CRC adjourned during its emergency meeting Monday, commissioner Krista Nash, who switched from a no vote to a yes vote under the new conditions set forth, requested to make a statement.

“Last week’s CRC meeting appears to have been a wakeup call for many cannabis companies doing business in New Jersey,” she said. “Apparently, some companies did not understand or appreciate their obligations as it concerns labor relations with their employees and their representatives. If the meeting served to remind companies of that obligation, then the CRC has done its job.

“Let me make this very clear: It is time that we favor people over profits.”