New Jersey Recreational License
We are highly experienced cannabis licensing experts, and we’ve created operational document templates for those seeking NJ Cannabis Licenses in the new adult-use market. For most of you (if you make under $200k per year), New Jersey’s recreational licensing process will start with the Conditional Application.
The plan requirements for the first-stage conditional application submission are:
- A Business Plan and Management Profile
- A Regulatory Compliance Plan (we sell this separately, click to view)
- A Plan to Obtain Liability Insurance (this you should obtain from a cannabis insurance company)
When you are ready to submit your conditional conversion application (within 120 days), we offer the following set of documents as a kit or a la carte. These are our available NJ Cannabis Procedures and Plans:
- An Environmental Impact Plan
- A Safety and Security Plan
- A Workforce Development Plan
- Adverse Event SOPs
- Quality Assurance and Quality Control SOPs
- Recall SOPs
- Packaging and Labeling SOPs (cultivation and manufacturing only)
- Inventory Control, Storage and Diversion Prevention SOPs
- Record Keeping SOPs
- Waste Disposal SOPs
- SOPs for (Click your license type: Cultivation, Manufacturing, Retail)
- Accounting and Tax Compliance SOPs
- Reporting of Test Results SOP
- Secure Transport of Cannabis SOP (cultivation and manufacturing only)
Every document we call a “plan” is written in narrative text, paragraph form. Every document we call a “procedure” or “SOP” is written in step-by-step instructional format.
The marijuana application documents above contain policy citations and collectively comprise between 110 and 130 pages of text (depending on license type), 12pt single spaced, Times New Roman font. This set of cannabis operating plans and standard operating procedures is offered at a package discount price of $5297 – $8497. You can also buy these documents individually. Click on each one above to see the prices. The package deal represents a 25% discount over buying each document separately.Â
Please email us or call 1-877-757-7437 to schedule an appointment to view our cannabis application templates. We are in the Hawaii time zone, which is 5-6 hours earlier than East Coast, so let us know in your voicemail how late we can return your call. We will set up a screenshare preview with you, so you can see all of what you’d be getting if you decide to purchase any of our templates.
Need Help Getting Started with Your New Jersey Cannabis License?Â
These Cannabis Cultivation, Manufacturing and Retail Operations documents will save you over 100 of hours preparing your NJ cannabis application, and we already know what the CRC wants, so you won’t get deficiency notices using our materials.
It’s exciting to see the adult-use cannabis industry in NJ finally coming to fruition! All adults should have the right to consume recreational cannabis, so it’s great that New Jersey is willing to be a leader, beating New York to the launch of a recreational cannabis market.
Applications for New Jersey cannabis cultivation licenses and manufacturing licenses have been accepted by the CRC, since December 15th, 2021. Applications for dispensaries have been accepted since March 15th, 2022.
Read on for our New Jersey Cannabis Licensing FAQ’s
How Do you Get a Grower’s License in New Jersey?
To get started applying for any kind of new jersey cannabis business license, go to the website for the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) website here. Create an account, log in, and click all of the tabs along the top of the page to learn what’s required to submit for marijuana licenses. You’ll need to gather a lot of stuff! We can help you with plans and procedures, but there’s still a lot to do that covers topics like background checks, securing property in the right zone, proving residency, getting local approval, proving access to your financing–these are all items that fall under the category of eligibility. The Jersey cannabis regulatory landscape is complex! What that means is that you can’t apply for a NJ recreational license unless you are fully eligible. Proving eligibility requires paperwork, and only you can do most of these things. A lawyer or consultant would not have access to that information, so if you hired their help, they’d still have to ask you gather the items above. Scroll Down for Images of the Document Requirements in the NJ CRC Application Portal.Â
Jennifer Martin – Cannabis Expert
Hi, I’m Jennifer Martin. I’ve been working on cannabis industry documents and application materials since 2016, and I’ve been designing and operating cannabis cultivation facilities for over 20 years. At heart, I’m a commercial grower, and I wish it were easy to legally set up shop anywhere and just grow cannabis plants for a living. Unfortunately though, many states are concerned about seeming too liberal about legalizing psychoactive substances, so they are generally making it difficult, if not impossible, to get a cannabis business license. This is finally changing in New Jersey!
What Else Should I Know About Starting my New Jersey Cannabis Cultivation Application?
If you are applying for one of the larger New Jersey cultivation licenses and must compete with other applicants, there are 4 main components of a winning application: 1) evidence of solid financial backing, 2) evidence of sufficient commercial cannabis production experience, 3) proof of ownership (or owner’s permission to use) of an adequate and properly located cannabis production facility, and 4) a complete and well organized NJ cannabis application.
Understanding the New Jersey Cannabis Delivery License
As of September 27th, 2023, applications will be accepted for New Jersey Delivery Licenses for social equity applicants, December 27th for diversely owned applicants, and for everyone on March 27th, 2023. All along, Class 5 Retailers have been allowed to add delivery as a feature of their storefront licenses, but unless they add a Class 6 NJ cannabis delivery license, they can only deliver their own products, which obviously is not a big limitation.
Having a Class 6 NJ Cannabis Delivery License without a Class 5 Retail License is good in the sense that you can deliver all over the state, but imperfect in the sense that you must obtain your cannabis products from Class 5 Retailers, and we don’t expect those products to be available at wholesale price. The retailers can decide their pricing to Class 6 Delivery License holders. Class 6 cannabis delivery license holders cannot purchase wholesale cannabis from cultivators, manufacturers or wholesalers. This limits the delivery license profit potential and should be considered in your calculations of the potential of that business model.
Note: if you are a Class 5 Retailer intending to delivery, choose the “Retail + Delivery” document set in the dropdown menu. This includes an extra 8 Delivery SOPs that will be required before you begin your delivery operations.
How Do I Get a Recreational Cannabis License in New Jersey?
One of your highest priorities should be to find a properly zoned location where you have permission from the municipality (and from the building owner if you are leasing) to operate as a cannabis grower, manufacturer or retailer, and you’ll need at least a few hundred thousand dollars for licensing and buildout.
The nj microbusiness licensees will be able to get a small operation going for under $2 million as cultivators, under $500,000 for manufacturers, and under $300,000 for dispensaries. We hate to break the bad new for you, but a couple hundred thousand bucks won’t get you as far as you think, especially as a grower. Construction, mechanical installation, equipment and climate control systems run into some serious money because you are building out the equivalent of a clean-room lab that has the power and equipment to offset large amounts of moisture and heat.
Tip- if you don’t already know a lot about cultivating commercial cannabis and would be happy with having any kind of nj recreational cannabis license, you’d probably be best off with a New Jersey cannabis manufacturing license or NJ dispensary license. Manufacturing and Dispensary license types are cheaper types to operate, don’t require as much experience; not as much can go wrong.
What about Class 3 and 4 License Types? Wholesale and Distribution?
These license types open for Social Equity Applicants in September 2023, for Diversity Applicants in December 2023, and for everyone in March 2023.
The total number of licenses being granted (Micro, Distributor, Wholesaler, Manufacturer, Retailer and Delivery) will not be limited by the State, but local jurisdictions have the right to limit them (except Delivery license holders can deliver anywhere in the state).
One limitation to be aware of is that you can own multiple license types, but if you own cultivation, retail, manufacturing and/or delivery, you cannot own distribution or wholesale licenses, and vice versa. Distribution and wholesale are in their own category.
What is the Difference Between Distribution and Wholesale?
In NJ, the cannabis distribution license is simply a license to transport cannabis and cannabis items between cannabis license holders. NJ Cannabis distributors cannot purchase or package cannabis, deliver to consumers, or transport to consumers.
The NJ cannabis wholesale license allows for the purchase, reselling and storage of cannabis and cannabis products, only between other licensed entities, not from or to consumers. Wholesalers cannot produce or package/label cannabis. You can hold both the Distribution and Wholesale licenses, which almost seems necessary, to make the business model work.
Note:Â In earlier regulations, cultivators and manufacturers could transport their own wholesale cannabis and cannabis products to other license holders. Now they can’t, and they can’t own a distributor or wholesale license either, so NJ Cannabis Distributor License holders will have plenty of business acting as a go-between to help producers get their products to retailers.
Should I Prepare My Own Application or Pay a Consultant or Attorney to Do It?
Although it’s a lot of work preparing your own application, we firmly believe you should do this yourself. For one, it saves a lot of money to do so, but more importantly, YOU are personally responsible for everything in that application and for knowing all of the rules. Paying someone else to prepare it has two major problems associated. #1 The entity who prepares it for you might make mistakes that will set back your timeline considerably and #2 Any entity preparing your application will need you to gather plenty of information that they’ll upload in the application portal. It’s still so much work for you that you might as well do it yourself. After all, you are the one attesting to the accuracy of everything submitted, and so you will be held accountable by the CRC for any problems associated with the application, whether created by you or a consultant or attorney.
Over time, the rules will likely loosen up, but for now, you’ve got about 200 hours of time to put into gathering and organizing your NJ cannabis application materials. With the cannabis application templates we sell here, we believe we’ve reduced your workload by at least 100 hours (taking your total from 200 down to 100). We know that because tit took us at least that long to write all these plans!
The New Jersey cannabis procedures and operating plan templates we offer are written from the standpoint of a hypothetical applicant. It’s as if you are getting to see a competitor’s completed application and can use it as a model create your own high-level custom cannabis application!
Here are some sample pages from our NJ cultivation procedures. They include policy citations, hyperlinks, and a color coding system.
This is a sample page from the Inventory/Storage/AntiDiversion SOP:
This is a sample page from the Packaging & Labeling SOP:
How Much Will a New Jersey Cannabis License Cost?
Total cost for getting licensed in New Jersey has many components. The first is the amount that the state will charge to apply for the license. Based on the size of your business, this will range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand.
AND…there are many other costs that need to be taken into account for planning purposes when it comes to obtaining a New Jersey recreational license:
- If you want to start with templates to ease your process and save you time, templates will cost a few thousand dollars.
- If you want to ensure that your license won’t be kicked back over technical errors, an attorney will charge a few thousand dollars to review your documents.
- If you are purchasing a property, your down payment could easily exceed $100k. If you are leasing a property, you’ll need a security deposit, 1st and last month’s rent, plus enough rent money to cover you until you can grow plants. That’s going to run anywhere from $30k to $150k, depending on the size of the property.
- You will need several hundred thousand dollars to cover all of your build-out and early operational expenses. This varies greatly depending on the size of the building. Figure $400 per square foot for a vertical LED setup, which covers equipment, materials, construction and mechanical installation costs. It’s a lot, but you won’t go over-budget if you plan for this level of expenditures. Read more here about cannabis facility design costs.
Contact us today for a pre-purchase tour of the documents! View before you buy and get a fee Q&A session at the same time.
What About the New Jersey Cannabis Manufacturing License?
The Cannabis Manufacturing License in NJ is less popular than the other license types, but it’s actually a good way to enter the market because it can be done less expensively if your product types are simple, and the CRC has recently loosened up the rules on the types of manufactured products that can be produced and sold. You could conceivable start a NJ cannabis manufacturing business in a small warehouse, producing just gummies, or you could go big and have a large facility with a whole line of products. Cannabis manufacturers and processors from all over the country enjoy healthy profits from starting with extracted oil and turning it into all kinds of derivative products.
Are Edibles Legal in New Jersey?
New Jersey recently loosened up on the types of edibles that can be manufactured and sold.
Here is the wording of their updated rules:
“A license holder with a Class 2 Cannabis Manufacturer license may manufacture the following ingestible forms:
a. Syrups or single-serve beverages;
b. Pills, capsules, or tablets;
c. Oral suspensions; and
d. Non-TCS food items, such as chocolates, gummies, baked goods, butters, jams, and jellies, such that the product does not require time or temperature control to limit pathogenic microorganism growth or toxin formation.
Ingestible products shall not:
a. Be an alcoholic beverage, as defined in N.J.S.A. 33:1-1;
b. Contain tobacco or nicotine;
c. Require cooking or baking by the consumer;
d. Require storage in sterile conditions by the consumer; or
e. Contain any controlled dangerous substance, as defined in N.J.S.A. 24:2I-2.
New Jersey Cannabis Application Process
Here are screenshots of the documents required for a cannabis license application. They vary slightly depending on license type, and conditional applicants won’t need labor peace agreements or an operating plan summary. POI stands for Person of Interest and EOI is Entity of Interest:
It looks like a lot of stuff to upload, and it is, but with some help, you can do it!
