Experts at seminar high on cannabis business in Atlantic City

Stockton University held a free information workshop on recreational cannabis, which was legalized in New Jersey by a 2020 referendum, at the John F. Scarpa Academic Center on Sunday.

The event featured marijuana-industry entrepreneurs and experts who gave attendees advice on launching their own marijuana cultivation or retail businesses under the new state licensing guidelines.

Attendees could also conference with lawyers about their marijuana-related criminal records being expunged, as provided for under new state law.

“My personal goal with the event is to bring locals in and get them excited and interested so that we can create equity and ownership for our locals here in Atlantic City,” said Zach Katzen, an organizer of the workshop and a member of the Atlantic City Cannabis Commission, which was created by the city earlier this year.

John Morris, of Mays Landing, was among those attending the event Sunday. The owner of Drips ArtxFashion — an art-gallery business in Absecon — Morris said he came to the workshop to network and to explore ways he could implement marijuana into his business model.

He said he also is enrolled at Stockton for the upcoming spring semester, where he will pursue a bachelor’s degree in business management, as well as Stockton’s new cannabis studies minor.

“The industry is going to do great things for Atlantic City, or just for people in general,” Morris said.

The workshop was hosted by the Cannabis & Hemp Research Initiative at Stockton in conjunction with Atlantic City, and was sponsored by the New Jersey Cannabis Trade Association.

Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr., signaling the city’s support for the industry, delivered a brief opening speech. Despite his initial, personal opposition, Small said the marijuana industry would generate much needed economic growth and tax revenue for the city.

“It can’t be about my personal feelings, but what could benefit Atlantic City as a whole, meaning tax revenue, jobs, and other ownership opportunities that we want to make sure our local people get a shot at,” Small said.

The vast majority of people at the event were interested in learning about the application process for a commercial marijuana license, with a large crowd gathered around lawyer Michael McQueeny.

The application process McQueeny described was competitive and complex. The process is further complicated by the continued illegality of marijuana on a federal level — something that restricts the kinds of financing and leasing options.

The state begins accepting applications on a rolling basis for marijuana cultivators, which grow the plant, and manufactures, which create marijuana products from raw materials, on Dec. 15. It will begin accepting applications for marijuana dispensaries, which will sell marijuana products on the retail market, on March 15, 2022. There is not yet a set date for when the state will begin accepting applications for wholesale or distribution licenses.

The state is awarding only 37 licenses for larger growers, but does not have a set amount of licenses being distributed to “micro” businesses.

Under state law, micro businesses in a marijuana industry face various size, production, location and workforce constraints.

“As you can hear, even from this conversation, right, nothing’s as simple as we just mail in the application,” McQueeny said. “And all of this is part of this rush toward adult use (of marijuana).”

Ellie Siegel, another lawyer at the event and the CEO and founder of the management consultancy firm Longview Strategic, suggests that aspirant cultivators apply as soon as possible, given the competitiveness of the field.

One of the crucial parts of the state law establishing the marijuana industry is the category of priority applicants — including state residents of color negatively impacted by the war on drugs.

These include Social Equity Businesses, which are owned by people who have past convictions for cannabis offenses or who live in areas economically disadvantaged areas of the state; and Diversely Owned Businesses, which are certified by the New Jersey Department of the Treasury as being woman-owned, minority-owned, or owned by a disabled veteran.

There is also priority given to business applicants that are owned by or employee residents from an Impact Zone Area — locations that have large populations, a high unemployment rate, or a high number of marijuana-related arrests. A list of Impact Zones has not yet been released, although Siegel said that Atlantic City would likely be included.

“If you want to do business in Atlantic City, you have to check in with the city of Atlantic City,” said Kashawn McKinley, a member of the Atlantic City Cannabis Commission. “We are all in on partnerships, we are all about inclusiveness, and we want to help you get from A to Z as soon as possible.”

Kwanza Hall, a former Atlantic City councilman and former U.S. congressman, said he was encouraged to see the city and state embrace the marijuana industry, seeing it as a way to promote social equity.

“It’s not really all about being capitalistic, it’s about passing it on, and sharing,” Hall said.

Brian Davis is already a small, home grower of cannabis where he lives in Washington, D.C., where small cannabis planting is legal. He said he was considering moving to and becoming a cultivator in Atlantic City with his fiancée, Nena Naji, who has family in the area.

“It just makes some people happy and does a lot of good things for them,” Davis said about his work with marijuana.

The other half of the event, expungement of marijuana-related criminal records, was also an important resource for attendees. Michael Hoffman, an attorney based in Vineland, said the state automatically expunged tens of thousands of marijuana-related charges, but that many fell through the cracks.

While speaking at the workshop, Hoffman underscored the incongruity between the profit that can be made off the marijuana industry, and how it remains illegal in much of the United States.

“That legacy of prohibition (of marijuana) still exists, as actual marks on, unfortunately, many people’s criminal records,” Hoffman said.

Among those still negatively impacted by marijuana laws is Katzen, of the Atlantic City Cannabis Commission. Katzen, who also runs the consulting company Create 48, said he was arrested on a marijuana-distribution charge in Ventnor, about 21 years ago. He said he successfully submitted his application to have his record expunged at the workshop Sunday.

“To see it go full circle, from having my door kicked in and being raided for cannabis sales, to see the mayor give opening remarks about this new industry here, cannabis, coming to Atlantic City, it’s really amazing to see,” Katzen said.