NJ Gov. Phil Murphy wants to hike a special tax on cannabis from $2.50 to $15 an ounce to fund social service and violence intervention programs with tens of millions of dollars in new revenue.
“In just five years, cannabis has gone from destroying lives — in the form of excessive criminal sentences — to helping save lives,” Murphy said in his budget address Tuesday.
Murphy’s plan comes about two months after the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission hiked the tax from $1.24 to $2.50 an ounce in December.
by Sophie Nieto-Munoz, New Jersey Monitor
February 26, 2025
The tax, known as the social equity excise fee, is paid by cannabis cultivators. The money goes to a dedicated fund for social equity programs and investing in communities hurt by marijuana prohibition, and another portion is allocated to programs to divert youth from cannabis.
As of August 2024, the tax has brought in more than $6 million, which is all sitting unspent, according to the cannabis agency. That money must be allocated by the Legislature and governor under the state’s cannabis legalization law.
As part of his budget plan, Murphy also wants the tax to apply to intoxicating hemp products — a legal product that contains chemicals like delta-8 and delta-10, which can give intoxicating effects similar to THC in weed.
Officials with the Murphy administration said they don’t need the cannabis agency’s approval to increase the social equity excise fee.
Under Murphy’s proposal, the changes would bring in $70 million in revenue.
Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), a supporter of legal cannabis, said he is not supportive of raising the tax right now. Scutari noted that it’s cheaper to buy weed illegally than it is to buy it from a legal dispensary (New Jersey has some of the highest cannabis prices in the nation). He said he wants more people visiting dispensaries, and increasing cannabis taxes isn’t the way to do that.
“I don’t want to see our taxes for that product go up, which it already can’t compete with the gray market, the black market product,” he said. “That would be difficult right now.”
People going right back to the street vendors if that tax is implemented. Heard it here first
What’s the point of legalizing cannabis if you’re going to punish people for purchasing it legally. Very backwards way to do business.
I use cannabis for multiple sclerosis and it helps me tremendously.
I think it’s a very bad idea to tax individuals so heavily for something you already legalized.
What are you thinking or maybe you’re not! Find the money somewhere else. Please.
Brilliant idea, Governor Murphy. It takes an extreme liberal mindset to think that this plan will work to benefit New Jersey and the cannabis industry. All you has done is give incentive to purchase from illegal sources. The idea should be to undercut the street sales of cannabis, so the legal vendors of cannabis can help support the industry. Stupid is what stupid does.