As of July 1st, over 130,000 medical cannabis patients in New Jersey will no longer pay sales tax on cannabis products purchased at medicinal dispensaries.
“Removing state sales tax on medicinal cannabis is consistent with Governor Murphy and the Legislature’s intent to prioritize patients and improve affordability,” said Jeff Brown, executive director of the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission in a press release. “As the sales tax has been phased out from 4% to 2% and now to 0% patients have been able to spend less on their medicine, further ensuring patients are prioritized over recreational consumers.”
The three-phase elimination of the sales tax was delineated in the Jake Honig Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Act signed into law by Governor Murphy in 2019.
Edmund DeVeaux, president of the New Jersey CannaBusiness Association, said he and the NJCBA support the tax elimination.
“First of all, for years, the states have promised the medical communities that the medical cannabis community would always be a priority,” DeVeaux said. “New Jersey has done an excellent job of demonstrating its commitment to the medical cannabis community over the years. So I think it’s wonderful in that way. The second aspect, which I think is as important, is the notion that cannabis is medicine, and just as you would not tax an opioid, you should not tax cannabis, which we have found to be better in terms of treatment and as a treatment alternative to opioids, which are easily abused.”
Ken Wolski, Executive Director of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana in New Jersey, has been advocating for tax-free medical marijuana for years.
“I am glad the New Jersey tax on medical marijuana is gone,” Wolski said. “It never should have been imposed in the first place.”
