NJ legal weed: Home grow is a no-go, but advocates push to change that

New Jersey is unlikely to allow its marijuana users or medical marijuana patients to grow their own cannabis plants at home, the new president of the state Senate said this month. 

State Sen. Nick Scutari, D-Union, was the main proponent of New Jersey marijuana legalization in the state Senate and was elected by his colleagues as the body's president this year. But speaking to a virtual webinar of cannabis industry entrepreneurs and experts, he said he "did not see (home grow) happening right now," repeated a common refrain that allowing "home grow" would only contribute to the black market and hold back the legal industry from taking off. 

"I'm not against marijuana being grown at home for medical purposes and maybe even just recreational purposes," Scutari said at the event, hosted by the New Jersey CannaBusiness Association, a trade group for the cannabis industry.

"But we've got to let this industry … it's not even off the ground yet."

What's the hold up? 

The push to legalize home grow has largely been led by patient advocates in the state's medical marijuana program, who argue that allowing a limited number of marijuana plants would help patients avoid the exorbitant costs charged by legal medical marijuana dispensaries — and keeps them from turning to the black market.

"This would be a tremendous help for patients," said Jo Anne Zito, who sits on the board for the Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey, which has been the biggest group pushing for home grow.

"It doesn't seem like the sky has fallen in these other places.

"Yeah, some of it may get to the illicit market but I don't think it's anything that's hurting revenue or setting back legal sales." 

"It's about us!"

New Jersey, Illinois and Washington are the only states that specifically prohibit the cultivation of any cannabis plants without a license. But of the 19 states to legalize weed, New Jersey is the only one that still prohibits its medical marijuana patients from growing cannabis at home. 

In the Garden State, growing one cannabis plant is still punishable by up to five years in prison and a $25,000 fine — just as it was before two-thirds of voters approved legal weed and Gov. Phil Murphy signed the enabling legislation into law last year. 

"Not only is it an issue of personal freedom, but it serves as an important check on the commercial marijuana industry," said Erik Altieri, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, the country's oldest marijuana legalization advocacy group. "Allowing consumers the ability to grow their own marijuana helps to ensure the industry keeps its products of high quality and fairly priced."

Selling marijuana

In states with home grow laws, some dispensary operators will gladly sell cannabis seeds or plant clones at their locations. At a Medicine Man dispensary in Denver, three seeds cost $48 while a clone costs just $24. 

Law enforcement officials in legal weed states have also correlated home grow laws with illegal drug trafficking. But most illegal grows busted by police involve hundreds or thousands of plants — not the half-dozen or 12 most states allow. 

For example, Colorado police officers confiscated 27,807 marijuana plants at 98 incidents of illegal cannabis grows in 2019, about 284 plants per incident. Since 2012, Colorado police confiscated about 248 plants per incident — a far cry from the six allowed per person (recreational or medical patient) under state law. 

Police shouldn't blame cannabis hobbyists growing a dozen pot plants in their basement for the actions of full-fledged interstate drug traffickers, Altieri said. 

"Any stories about grow houses getting busted in legal states are not proof of the law's failures. There are illicit grows in every single state in this country, but are proof under legalization it is possible to allow adults to grow their own and that enforcement against those falling outside that legal scope is working as intended," he said.

The three home grow bills introduced in the Legislature last year have already been reintroduced for the new legislative session. One sets a six-plant limit for recreational marijuana users and a 10-plant limit for patients, while another sets the six-plant maximum across the board.

None of the three bills received a hearing in the Legislature last session.

If and when New Jersey finally allows home grow, it will likely be tightly regulated, Scutari said. 

Home growers would likely have to certify their plants with the state to ensure that the plants are for personal use and they don't "fall into the wrong hands, being sold or shipped out of state," he said. 

"It won't just be 'grow what you want,'" Scutari said.

"People can't just throw seeds in a pot."