Legal weed was supposed to kill the black market in NJ. Did it?

I’m two episodes into season two of “The Gentlemen” on Netflix. No spoilers, but Eddie has a vision: get weed legalized in England, then make even more money selling to both the legal market and the illegal one.

It got me wondering about home. New Jersey did legalize it. Legal sales started April 21, 2022. So how’s the legal business doing four and a half years later, and did it hurt the dealers?

SEE ALSO: THC seltzers are about to disappear from NJ liquor stores

Cannabis Regulatory Commission map showing dispensaries in all 21 New Jersey counties

The legal business is big

New Jersey sold more than $1.1 billion in medical and recreational cannabis over four quarters, according to the Cannabis Regulatory Commission. By July, more than 315 dispensaries were open in all 21 counties.

But prices keep dropping. In May, CRC Acting Executive Director Christopher Riggs said adult-use prices are down 48% since January 2023, while sales are up 52% and transactions are up 74%, HeadyNJ reported.

Medical cannabis is shrinking as the recreational stores spread. Registered patients fell from about 65,400 in early 2025 to about 51,800 by December, according to CRC figures.

Not every store makes it

More stores and lower prices mean some shops don’t survive. The Jersey City dispensary co-owned by Ice-T closed after less than a year, NorthJersey.com reported. Raekwon’s Hashstoria in Newark also closed, according to several reports.

It hit close to home, too. The Cannabist opened a dispensary on the Black Horse Pike in Mays Landing at the end of 2024. After a bankruptcy filing, the company is selling that store and its Deptford and Vineland shops to Vireo Growth, in a deal NJBIZ reported will close in stages through 2027. Its two Vineland grow sites were set to close this month, cutting 86 jobs.

What about the illegal market?

Early on, when only 26 legal stores were open, a study found they captured less than 20% of sales, NJBIZ reported. The researchers found that more legal stores per person meant fewer street dealers. New Jersey has about 12 times as many stores now.

But the illegal sellers didn’t vanish. A lot of them seem to have moved behind the counter. East Orange has shut down eight smoke shops and seized more than 225 pounds of marijuana since March, Patch reported. Jersey City police and the DEA closed five more in March.

Part of the gap is geography. As of 2024, more than 60% of New Jersey towns had opted out of cannabis businesses.

Eddie’s plan was to profit from both sides. In New Jersey, the legal side is bigger and cheaper than ever. The illegal side is still open for business, just in a different storefront.

Has legal weed changed anything in your town?