Recreational Marijuana Sales Start In NJ Next Week

TRENTON, NJ – Recreational marijuana will go on sale to New Jersey adults on April 21, Governor Phil Murphy announced Thursday.

The first legal sales come just over a year after lawmakers passed legislation to let people over 21 buy the drug without a medical card.

Licenses to cultivate and sell marijuana will initially be issued to seven "alternative treatment centers" with 13 retail dispensaries around the state, New Jersey's Cannabis Regulatory Commission said. Other dispensaries are expected to follow.

Murphy said in a tweet Thursday: "This is a historic step in our work to create a new cannabis industry."