How big is NJ’s current pot economy?

Regulated cannabis growing in Oakland, CA

Chris Goldstein is a member of NORML-NJ’s Board of Directors. He recently published a blog estimating the size and scale of the current underground marijuana economy in the Garden State.

Big bust in NJ tiny part of $1 billion local pot economy

New Jersey’s new Attorney General Paula Dow held a press conference yesterday lauding the largest marijuana bust of living cannabis plants in the state’s history. But authorities involved are well aware that the amount seized is just a small drop in a very large bucket.

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Over 30, 000 New Jersey residents are arrested every year for a marijuana violation, more than 80% are for possession of less than 50 grams.

There is an assumption nationally that actual pot arrests account for about 1% of overall users. That could mean that there are 2-3 million marijuana consumers in New Jersey.

The state has about 10 million permanent residents overall.

This week the California Board of Equalization (BOE) released a report that CA residents are consuming over 1 million pounds of marijuana every 365 days. The CA BOE also concluded that 22.3 million pounds of marijuana were grown in California in 2006 alone. Read the CA BOE report

While New Jersey’s marijuana market is likely not on the same scale of California, a safe hypothesis could assume that there are indeed several million pounds of marijuana grown in the Garden State each year to keep up with local demand.

Let’s do a little math experiment: To supply 2 million cannabis consumers with just ¼ ounce per month of mid-grade underground marijuana at a cost of $50 per quarter-ounce would make for a $1.2 billion dollar pot market just in New Jersey; every year.

This theory would also mean that NJ residents consume at least 375,000 pounds of cannabis annually.

These are just conservative estimates by a blogger with a calculator.

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