New Jersey state lawmakers in the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee threw their bipartisan support behind a pair of bills to allow intoxicating hemp products to exist a little longer and to criminalize certain cannabis sales.
The committee members voted unanimously on Oct. 15 to advance both pieces of legislation:
- Senate Bill 4635 would align New Jersey’s timeline for restrictions on intoxicating hemp products with the federal government’s forthcoming ban that’s scheduled to take effect Dec. 11, 2026.
- Senate Bill 4287 would make the commercial sale or distribution of unlicensed cannabis a third-degree crime, punishable by $10,000 to $50,000 fines for individuals who own, operate, control or manage an unregulated business, and by $100,000 to $250,000 fines for partnerships, joint ventures, associations, corporations or any other legal entity involved in illicit activities.
The committee advanced S.B. 4635 after the U.S. Congress passed legislation in early September that provided certain hemp-derived cannabinoid products a four-week reprieve from the federal ban, which was originally slated to go into effect in November.
Not only will the federal law redefine hemp as a cannabis plant containing no more than 0.3% total THC during a preharvest field test, but it will also prohibit finished products containing:
- cannabinoids that are synthesized or manufactured outside the plant;
- cannabinoids that are not capable of being naturally produced by the plant; or
- more than 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container.
While hemp products that contain cannabinoids that are “not capable of being naturally produced by a Cannabis sativa L. plant” will still be prohibited on the original Nov. 12 implementation date, the federal ban on other products was delayed until Dec. 11.
Under New Jersey law, certain businesses licensed by the state’s Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) or the Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) can sell intoxicating hemp beverages.
New Jersey lawmakers advanced S.B. 4635 to align state law with shifting federal regulations.
“To accommodate potential further federal delays to the effective date of the federal definition of hemp, this bill provides that state law will be modified to comport with the changes in federal law whenever they become effective,” the New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee noted on the bill. “Under the bill, the sale of hemp products by ABC and CRC licensees will remain legal until the federal definitional changes become effective.”
Todd Johnson, executive director of New Jersey Cannabis Trade Association (NJCTA), spoke in opposition to the bill ahead of the committee’s vote, saying it represents the Legislature’s statutory relief to the alcohol and unregulated hemp industries at a time when lawmakers haven’t afforded the same flexibilities to licensed cannabis operators.
Johnson pointed out that while NJCTA supports appropriate consumer protection for all intoxicating cannabis products and regulation for intoxicating hemp products, he said the state’s cannabis operators “have fallen by the wayside” as lawmakers have adjusted the goalposts “four or five times” in the past two years for their competitive industries.
“Four or five amendments, adjustments and deadline extensions for industries that frankly are not subject to the same financial and regulatory burdens that New Jersey’s licensed cannabis businesses operate under every single day,” he said. “While we sincerely appreciate the Legislature’s pivotal implementation of the initial medical and adult-use cannabis legislation, we have not seen the same meaningful, necessary and swift legislative action as we’ve seen here with liquor stores and hemp.”
Johnson also testified that New Jersey’s licensed cannabis market has provided more than 17,000 jobs, with more than 400 businesses representing a $1.3 billion annual retail marketplace that has generated more than $270 million in state tax revenue.
“I am not here today to block this bill,” he said. “A one-month extension on a looming federal ban is not worth fighting, but I am asking this committee, and through you, this Legislature, to recognize the disparity in how urgency is applied. When liquor needs relief, this Legislature moves. When hemp needs an extension, this Legislature moves. When regulated cannabis operators, those who have followed every rule, paid every fee and built this market up from nothing over the past 12 years – when we ask for the same basic fairness, the clock seems to always run out.”
Meanwhile, S.B. 4287, on criminalizing certain cannabis product sales, recognizes that the state recently created a license category for limited vapor product retailers. The legislation aims to apply the same criminal fines for illicit commercial sales and distribution of cannabis to those who violate the state’s vapor product laws.
Products sold in violation of the bill’s provisions would be considered “contraband goods,” allowing law enforcement to seize the products without a warrant.
“Both of the above-described unlicensed marijuana and vapor product activities would be included in the definition of ‘racketeering activity’ … and thus fall within the scope of the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, which generally makes it a crime for someone to be employed or associated with an ‘enterprise’ or have any interest or control of such ‘through a pattern of racketeering activity,’” the Judiciary Committee noted on the bill
Eric Blomgren, executive director of the New Jersey Energy Marketers Group (formerly known as the New Jersey Gasoline, Convenience Store and Automotive Association, or NJGCA), spoke in favor of the legislation before the committee’s Oct. 15 vote.
The group represents several thousand convenience stores and gas stations, including small and independent retailers, in the Garden State.
“Our association members have always supported full compliance with the law and a level playing field for every business to compete on,” Blomgren said. “Unfortunately, for the last six years, that’s not been the case for vapor products. Honest retailers who want to be in compliance are left feeling like fools for not selling these items and, in doing so, losing sales and customers to dishonest competitors who are willing to break the law.”
Blomgren painted a picture of New Jersey shoppers frequenting unlicensed shops that he said are selling unsafe products manufactured in China and dumped into the U.S., all while avoiding state taxes.
By Blomgren’s estimates, if S.B. 4287 were enacted and enforced, the state could potentially benefit from tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue that have gone uncollected.
“These new penalties are tough but fair,” he said. “And if the state is going to have these legal restrictions, it should enforce them in a serious manner. We found that unenforced prohibition is the worst of all policy options, and we hope that this bill will improve the situation.”
