How Much Did New Jersey Cannabis Consumers Spend On Weed During First Month Of Legal Sales? A Lot

New Jersey kicked off long-awaited recreational cannabis sales on April 21.

Now that a month has passed, state regulators revealed that consumers have bought $24 million worth of cannabis, or roughly $5 million a week after a record-breaking first day when $2 million was spent.

At a Tuesday meeting, reported by the New Jersey Monitor, the Cannabis Regulatory Commission approved five additional permits for medical-only dispensaries to start selling adult-use cannabis during

The new retail shops include Garden State Dispensaries in Woodbridge, Union and Eatontown, The Apothecarium in Lodi and Ascend Wellness in Montclair. They're joining the other 12 dispensaries that kicked off sales last month. The 13th location did not get final approval until two weeks ago.

“It’s really only a beginning, and I think it shows that there’s a lot of growth left in this market,” said Jeff Brown, executive director of the Cannabis Regulatory Commission.

In addition, a total of 46 conditional licenses were granted during the meeting, including 22 for cultivators, 13 for manufacturers and 11 for recreational retailers.

While it is not yet clear when the newly approved stores will start selling recreational marijuana products, the commission's next gathering is expected to be held on June 23.

The state’s regulatory body initially gave the green light to sell adult-use cannabis to seven alternative treatment centers, which are multi-state operators, including Acreage Holdings, Inc ACRDF, Ascend Wellness Holdings AAWH, Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. CURA CURLF, Green Thumb Industries Inc. GTII GTBIF, Columbia Care Inc. CCHW CCHW CCHWF, TerrAscend Corp. TER TRSSF and Verano Holdings Corp. VRNOF in 13 locations across the state.

Photo: Courtesy of Gautam Krishnan on Unsplash