When I first moved back to my home state of New Jersey, I was trying to get a read on what was real and what was noise.
This state has momentum, but it also has a cloud of uncertainty surrounding it. Everyone’s “in cannabis.” Everyone’s “launching.” Everyone’s “building community.” Then you show up somewhere and realize half the room is there for the idea of cannabis, not the work of cannabis.
The first time I walked into one of Beth Conway’s events, it felt starkly different from the dozens of cannabis events I’d been to in the last year alone.
I was impressed by who she brought out. Actual operators. Brand owners. People with receipts. Not just low-level employees sent as a formality, and definitely not a crowd of cannabis wannabes collecting business cards like they’re trying to speedrun the industry.
That’s what made me want to sit down with Conway and talk about what she’s building, because she’s not playing the popularity game. She’s building infrastructure.
The State of the New Jersey Cannabis Industry
New Jersey is no longer the “new” market. It’s the market that’s growing.
The NJ Cannabis Regulatory Commission’s 2024 annual report lays it out plainly. As of the report, New Jersey had 265 adult-use operators, including 181 retailers, plus cultivators, manufacturers, laboratories, and a wholesaler. That is the real scale for a state that is still figuring out its long-term identity.
At the same time, this market is not wide open. The CRC notes that 60% of municipalities have rejected cannabis businesses, which keeps location strategy and local politics front and center for operators. If you are building in Jersey, you are not just opening a store. You are navigating a patchwork map where some towns …
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Author: Kyle Rosner / High Times
