Cannabis News

New Jersey Lawmakers Approve Bill To Legalize Psilocybin Therapy

Published

2 weeks ago

November 24, 2025

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New Jersey lawmakers have advanced a bill provide adults with regulated therapeutic access to psilocybin with appropriate health conditions, with the intention of continuing to work to enact it in the 2026 legislative session.

More than a year after the House Health Committee first took up and amended the legislation — sponsored by Reps. Herb Conaway (D), Clinton Calabrese (D) and Anthony Verrelli (D) — the panel met Monday, taking testimony and benefiting from it.

“We’re all broke in one way, shape or form,” Verrelli (D), one of the bill’s sponsors, said at Monday’s hearing. “This bill gives people another chance to heal and improve. And if they get better, it gives them an opportunity to improve their communities, their families and their lives in general, to break that cycle of trauma, whatever it looks like.”

The committee amended the legislation last year to match the Senate version. To the disappointment of the defenders, however, this meant removing provisions that would have more broadly legalized psilocybin for adult use.

The plan, which included the personal legislative provisions that were originally introduced in the same form as the one proposed by lawmakers in the 2024 session, has recently been released in amended versions. Those ingredients would make it legal for adults to “possess, possess, use, ingest, inhale, process, transport, deliver without consideration, or distribute without consideration” four grams or less of psilocybin.

The amended measures, however, would significantly expand legislation introduced in late 2020 to reduce penalties for possessing an ounce of psilocybin. That reform Governor Phil Murphy (D) signed it into law in 2021

Stacy Swanson, who testified on behalf of Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS), emphasized at Monday’s hearing that “the invisible wounds of war don’t just affect the veteran, they affect the entire family.”

“This bill does not legalize recreational drugs,” he said. “It creates structured access that is clinically supervised, with the necessary integration and monitoring.”

In its modified version, The invoice It would charge the Department of Health (DOH) with regulating and licensing the manufacture, testing, transportation, delivery, sale and purchase of psilocybin. There would be five types of licenses: manufacturer, service center operator, testing lab, facilitator, and psilocybin worker.

The Psilocybin Advisory Committee would establish appropriate medical conditions for use, propose guidelines for psilocybin services and dosage, craft safety studies and informed consent practices, and oversee the education, training, and conduct of facilitators.

The stated goal would be to develop a long-term strategic plan for safe, accessible, and affordable access to psilocybin for those 21 and older.

Toward this end, a social equity program would include implementing grants to help low-income people cover the costs of psilocybin services. DOH would direct the implementation of programs for technical assistance, fee reduction and other support services.

Jesse McLaughlin, state advocacy director for Reason for Hope, said Monday hearing that psychedelic medicine represents “the next big step forward in psychiatry” and we need to prepare our healthcare system for it.

“Psilocybin therapy is time-intensive, labor-intensive and different from the way psychiatric care is delivered today,” he said.

To access psilocybin services under the bill, a patient with a qualifying condition would have to obtain a referral from a licensed health care professional. Services would also include mandatory preparation and integration sessions before and after psilocybin administration.

The Assembly bill is in the hands of the Appropriations Committee. The Friend the Senate has already cleared two panels in that chamber—Health, Human Services and Elderly Committee and Budget and Credit Committee.

A survey of New Jersey residents released last year bears this out A majority of state residents agree with making psilocybin available for therapeutic usealthough they were not specifically asked about the specific legislation.

The poll, by Stockton University’s William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy, found that 55 percent of respondents supported legalizing psilocybin for medical use under the supervision of a physician. Only 20% of respondents were against, and 24% were not sure. A percentage of respondents refused to answer the question.

—
It’s Marijuana Time tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelic and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters by pledging at least $25/month, you’ll get access to our interactive maps, charts, and audio calendars so you never miss a development.

Learn more about our marijuana bill tracking and become a Patreon supporter to gain access
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In other New Jersey drug policy news, Voters earlier this month chose U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) to be the state’s next governor.and now there’s a clearer path to the marijuana reform that consumers and advocates in the Garden State have long awaited: the option to grow it at home.

Meanwhile, as New Jersey’s first marijuana lounges opened this summerregulators shared information on where to find the sites and offered advice on the responsible use of cannabis in licensed businesses, including rock culture classics like “puff, puff, pass.”

New Jersey officials have also completed the curriculum for a no-cost marijuana training academy to help entrepreneurs interested in entering the cannabis industry.

Separately, in May, New Jersey Senate President Nick Scutari (D) introduced a bill that would recriminalize the purchase of marijuana from unlicensed sources-A last ditch effort to combat the illegal market and direct adults to licensed dealers.

In March, a former New Jersey Senate leader unsuccessfully ran for this year’s Democratic nomination for governor. “It’s time” to allow medical marijuana patients to grow their own cannabis plants for personal use. He also pledged to expand amnesty for people affected by the criminalization of marijuana, if elected, and supported the establishment of cannabis consumption halls.

The comments by Sweeney, the longest-serving Senate president in the state’s history, diverge from what the current governor has repeatedly said about home growing, arguing that the state’s adult marijuana market needs to mature more before allowing home growing.

That claim appears to be contradicted by dozens of small marijuana businesses and advocacy groups in New Jersey recently He asked Parliament to allow adults to grow their own cannabis.

user photo CostaPPR.

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Cannabis News

HoneyGrove Dispensary selivers affordable small-batch flower to patients amid push for MMJ reform

Published

6 hours ago

December 7, 2025

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HoneyGrove Dispensary has partnered with Ewing-based medical cannabis company Noble Valley Harvest Company to offer small-batch flowers at reduced prices to medical marijuana patients.

Half ounces are available for $75 and full ounces are available for $125, with no sales tax applied to cardholder purchases. HoneyGrove waives sales tax on adult-use transactions for patients with a valid medical card to support patient access.

Within NJ’s three-ounce monthly purchase limit, cardholders can get $100 off multiple ounce purchases.

The initiative addresses ongoing concerns about affordability in New Jersey’s medical marijuana program, which has drawn criticism for high costs and limited supply. By offering premium, small-batch products at prices associated with lower-quality options, HoneyGrove and Noble Valley aim to improve immediate patient access while advocating for broader program reforms.

“HoneyGrove and HoneyStash are committed to patient care by partnering with local growers,” said Dave Valese, CEO of HoneyProjects, the management company for both dispensaries. “This partnership with Noble Valley ensures that medical patients receive high-quality flower at affordable prices, supporting our broader efforts to improve New Jersey’s medical cannabis program.”

“Noble Valley Harvest is producing small-batch cannabis for the New Jersey market,” said Dr. Lisa Grega, founder of Noble Valley Harvest Company. “We’re excited to give medical patients first access to help boost a market that’s shrinking in size and selection.”

For more information:
Honey Projects
honey-projects.com

Cannabis News

Ohio Senate Expected To Vote On Bill Recriminalizing Some Marijuana Activity That Voters Legalized

Published

6 hours ago

December 7, 2025

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“You can be charged with a felony for having legal weed in a package other than what you bought it from. You can be charged with a felony for buying legal weed in Michigan.”

By Jake Zuckerman, Signal Cleveland

It was this story originally posted By Signal Cleveland. Sign up for their free newsletter at SignalCleveland.org/subscribe.

A new law to be passed in the Statehouse next week would establish a series of juveniles Criminal penalties for persons illegally transporting or possessing marijuana in Ohiowhile withdrawing legal protections for users, such as child custody or professional license disputes.

That’s why NORML, the oldest marijuana advocacy organization in the US, is leading a quixotic effort to urge the Ohio Senate to reject Senate Bill 56 before a final vote next week.

With Senate approval, the bill would go to Gov. Mike DeWine (R) for his signature or veto.

The marijuana changes are part of a larger package that also establishes a new, comprehensive regulatory system for the intoxicant hemp, a product functionally similar to legal marijuana, but sold without age restrictions, taxes or quality controls. DeWine, a Republican who opposed relaxing Ohio’s marijuana laws, has been making public the issue of hemp more than a year ago.

But perhaps due to a political compromise, marijuana users have been caught up in the crackdown on hemp, according to Morgan Fox, NORML’s political director.

“A lot of this stuff is completely nonsensical,” he said in an interview. “This is recriminalizing a lot of behavior that is relatively innocent and has been legal for a long time.”

House and Senate lawmakers negotiated the final version of the legislation in a conference committee, which means the bill cannot be changed. The House passed it last month by a 52-34 vote last night, with a handful of Republicans joining Democrats in opposition.

Committee members described the final version as a compromise between mixed blocs of voters: Democrats who don’t want new criminal penalties for regular users, Republicans who support the right to grow marijuana, religious conservatives who oppose the expansion of legal use of the intoxicant, local governments who want their money to ruin a gas station. retailers, and both the hemp and marijuana industries seeking market advantages. (In all, 153 lobbyists signed up to work on the bill in August, state records show.)

In 2023, Ohio voters passed Issue 2 by 57 percent to 43 percent, allowing adults to legally use, buy, sell and possess cannabis. Those rights remain intact under the bill.

However, SB 56 imposes legal penalties for not having marijuana in its original container or buying legal marijuana in Michigan, where it is usually much cheaper.

Below is a closer look at some of these rules.

Out-of-state marijuana

SB 56 reclassifies what counts as the “legalization scope” of marijuana. And under its rules, marijuana that isn’t grown at home or purchased at a state dispensary is illegal. Prices are much lower in Michigan’s more mature cannabis market, and SB 56 would make it illegal to bring the substance back into Ohio.

Violators can be charged with a misdemeanor, which carries a maximum fine of $150, but no jail time.

Fox, the state lobbyist for NORML, said he is not aware of any adult-use states that outlaw the simple possession of cannabis produced in another state.

Driving with marijuana in the car

Under the bill, drivers could legally transport marijuana. However, it must be stored in the trunk or, in cars without a trunk, behind the last upright seat of the car. Marijuana and any paraphernalia must also be stored in its “original, unopened container.”

Likewise, edibles must be kept in their original packaging to complete the bill.

Offenses are minor fouls.

“You can be charged with a felony for having legal weed in a package other than the one you bought it from,” Bride Rose Sweeney, one of the top Democratic negotiators in the House, said at the conference. “You can be charged with a felony for buying legal Michigan weed.”

Loss of legal protections

In addition to legalizing marijuana, the voter-approved 2023 law created legal protections for adults who use marijuana in many civil and administrative contexts.

For example, state licensing boards cannot penalize licensees solely for using marijuana. A judge cannot deprive a parent of parenting time or responsibilities based solely on marijuana use and absent clear and convincing evidence of the child’s lack of safety.

Similar protections exist in relation to access to medical care, such as organ donation, in relation to denying a person as a tenant or disqualifying them from public benefits.

The bill removes almost all of these protections, although users can access public benefits (except unemployment compensation).

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Cannabis News

The forgotten story behind autoflowering cannabis

Published

1 day ago

December 6, 2025

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Many of the things that are common in modern cannabis come from a time when curiosity about the plant could lead to real problems. With the market now dominated by hybrid genetics, it is a common belief that it is almost impossible to bring anything back to an original cultivar. However, many of these initial building blocks came from the first wave of cannabis exploration, when a handful of growers traveled across continents in search of unique local varieties. Nevil Schoenmakers was one of them, and what he spotted on the side of a highway during a trip to Turkey left a mark on the history of cannabis that has never been erased.

On the way to Turkey
Dwight Diotte of D9 Canna Consulting still remembers those early years. A time when the modern industry was just an idea and the world of cannabis lived in the shadows between one country and another. Everyone in that circle followed clues more than maps, and it all felt like a treasure hunt with pocket knives and curiosity.

So how did cannabis ruderalis enter the cannabis world. The story begins with a road trip. Nevil was moving through Eastern Europe on one of his journeys to find his seed when he saw something strange on a highway in Hungary. The plants, already in flower, stand out against the July heat. He stopped so suddenly that his car screeched. Then he ran across like someone who had just seen a myth pass by.

He took some branches and dried them in the car heater. He soon realized that what he found was something special. He paused again, and turned around. Turkey could wait. What he had just discovered demanded attention, “and perhaps saved him from a more dangerous detour,” Dwight notes. The Cold War was still very real and the borders of that region were not yet friendly to roving plant hunters.

Sparking the seeds of something new
By the time Dwight saw Nevil the following year in the Netherlands, the seeds of the mystery were already on the table. They were tiny, dark and impossible to germinate with the usual tricks. Dwight remembers gently cracking the pebbles and soaking them as Nevil thought animals might do in the wild. “It felt less like horticulture and more like archaeology,” Dwight recalls.

Once they sprouted, the surprise came quickly. These were no ordinary plants. They went from seed to flower oblivious to the light of day and seemed determined to complete their cycle, encouraged or not. The concept of autoflowering did not yet exist. “Nevil saw the plants blooming on the fifth or seventh node and understood that something new was on the table.”

This was the birth of the modern ruderalis work, although at the time no one was thinking in neat categories. “We were trying to understand what we found.”

Claiming ownership
Dwight wandered between Canada and Europe during those years and witnessed it all. He helped raise funds for what would later become the famous Cannabis Castle, watched the early grow in action and watched Nevil push ruderalis as far as he could before returning to his passion for long-flowering cannabis. “The Finola project was created in the mid-90s and its founders claimed credit for the autoflowering breakthrough, even though the genetics went back to the same region that Nevil had explored, if not the same plants as Nevil himself,” Dwight said.

Everyone involved in that era seemed to reinvent themselves every season. The seed companies changed their names. Growers moved between projects. Some developed legendary cultivars. Others disappeared completely from public life. Through it all, Nevil remained a figure who kept one foot in research mode and the other in business reality. When the Dutch tightened regulations in the nineties, the landscape changed again, and a series of legal dramas followed across continents. “A few years later the dust settled and life moved on, but the seeds of his legacy had already been planted.”

According to Dwight, many of the fog lines that dominate the shelves today have their origins in Nevil. “It’s the same in the autoflowering category. Even after turning his attention away from ruderalis, he produced work that breeders talk about in low tones and reverence.”

Heritage
Dwight still grows ruderalis for fun. He says that plants teach him things. He says that even after forty years they still amaze him. “Nevil Schoenmakers always worked with what he found and let the plants say what they wanted to be. But the evidence is hard to ignore. When the first little black seeds were opened in Hungary, the industry of the future cracked with them. And even today, every time an autoflower appears on a legal shelf anywhere in the world, a small part of that moment is still on the side of the road in Eastern Europe.”