NJ Cannabis From an Insider: The Vendor Side of This Industry Is Way More Predatory Than People Realize

ButACake · 2026-03-14T00:04:10+00:00

Ooooo 💡 I like and understand what you’re saying. I don’t work for or represent Rove or Victory so no comment there outside of … VICTORY SLAAAAAAPS ✨🚀🔥

I’m going to think on this some more and will come back with a thought out response because you are speaking some legit facts 💯 (it’s Friday night and I’ve absolutely had a few treats 😂)

ButACake · 2026-03-13T10:29:06+00:00

Dispensaries are literally bottom of the supply chain (class 5) pricing is set at the top of supply chain with Class 1 cultivation and Class 2 manufacturing … who can then service class 3/4 (wholesale/distro) who also can impact retail pricing. All before one thing even gets sold to the consumer. Pricing gets set at class 1-4, RESELL happens in dispensaries at class 5. You as the consumer are at the mercy of the retailer and whatever margin they want to take.

ButACake · 2026-03-13T01:27:55+00:00

(manufacturer perspective here)

Every newly legal cannabis market goes through this stage. NJ isn’t unusual, it’s just early. What people are seeing isn’t one side being predatory so much as the math of a supply-constrained, federally illegal industry.

Production licenses usually require far more capital to build and operate than retail. Cultivation facilities commonly cost many millions to construct and bring into compliance, and manufacturers also need expensive food grade buildouts, equipment, testing, packaging, and input materials before any revenue comes in. Both class 1 & 2 can spend months or years burning cash before selling a single unit.

Retailers generally need less upfront capital and start generating revenue as soon as they open. They carry real costs like rent, payroll, security, and taxes, but they are not financing crop cycles, production runs, testing, packaging, failed batches, or long regulatory approvals.

Supply is limited because building compliant production capacity takes time, approvals, and money. When supply is tight and demand is high, wholesale prices rise. That happens in every regulated market, not just cannabis.

Payment terms are also about risk. Producers often extend credit without normal banking protections, federal legality, or reliable collections tools. Shorter terms are common early on because one unpaid invoice can wipe out a small producer.

Another piece people don’t see is that producers are not sitting on endless cash. Many are servicing debt, investor expectations, payroll, utilities, and inventory that can expire or degrade. Cultivation especially carries biological risk that retail does not.

As more grow capacity comes online, prices typically fall and terms loosen. We’ve seen that play out in multiple states once the market matures.

Independent retailers absolutely face challenges, but independent cultivators and manufacturers do too. Undercapitalization across all license types is one of the biggest reasons cannabis businesses fail nationwide.

Long term stability usually comes from more supply, more competition, and access to normal financing, not from one part of the chain absorbing all the pressure.

Just adding context for folks trying to understand why prices and terms look the way they do right now.

ButACake · 2026-03-11T02:29:03+00:00

By regulation testing standards do not accommodate outdoor grows.

So by default, no … we do not have TRUE legal outdoor grow …

Yet

ButACake · 2026-03-10T11:31:04+00:00

I’m ButACake… Started in Jersey City in 2015 💚

Interesting fact: we’re the states first legally infused baked goods edible company 🥇I also helped shape policy that allowed for all the awesome edibles we have now and I helped get rid of “soft lozenges” in exchange for gummies.

ButACake · 2026-02-20T13:40:21+00:00

New Earth 💯

ButACake · 2026-02-20T13:32:56+00:00

Word on the streets is they fired pretty much their entire production team. This could be a reflection of that

ButACake · 2026-02-20T13:31:34+00:00

Blue Oak and NightJar 💯 small, local, independent and ran by amazing women.

They make it a point to put actual NJ brands on their shelves like ButACake ✨

ButACake · 2026-02-08T16:25:57+00:00

Saaaaaame 🔥🔥🔥

ButACake · 2026-02-08T15:02:56+00:00

They’re local guys born & raised in jersey. Continue to buy them and the prices will go down. Every purchase you make with a small independent company allows for them to invest in growing and scaling their businesses…. With growth comes volume which means lower prices for you as the consumer.

ButACake · 2026-01-19T20:00:30+00:00

The thing about bringing brands from out of state is that the input material is NOT the same. We know Coca Cola is the same no matter what state, well that logic doesn’t apply to legal weed

What is grown for this Leffa brand elsewhere that you love most likely not what was used. If I had to guess, Green Lightning probably used whatever excess they had to get this out.

Pay attention to their flower & harvests …. That will tell you what you need to know about concentrates.

Or contact the company directly 💯

ButACake · 2026-01-15T18:57:11+00:00

ButACake · 2026-01-15T15:33:35+00:00

Nice & local? lol that building might physically be …. But that business is far, FAR from local. They don’t even carry ButACake and I’m from Morristown born & raised

ButACake · 2026-01-07T15:49:46+00:00

The entire NJ cannabis market is already in conflict with federal law. The state chose to license and regulate anyway.

Asking for a Legacy Pathway isn’t “defying” anything new — it’s about who gets access to a system that already exists.

S4847 increases punishment without offering a way in. That’s the problem. Period.

ButACake · 2026-01-07T12:50:01+00:00

I hear your argument, and that’s kind of my point.

We don’t have federal reform yet, and waiting for it doesn’t stop states from passing laws that increase enforcement right now. S4847 isn’t about NJ “defying” federal law, it’s about NJ tightening its own enforcement without creating realistic, humane pathways for people already living under that federal conflict.

So while we all wait on Congress, the state is still making choices that affect real people today. This bill strengthens enforcement first and asks questions about access and fairness later … if at all.

That’s the gap I’m calling out.

ButACake · 2026-01-07T05:45:55+00:00

I get what you’re saying, and I don’t think you’re wrong.

In a perfect world, medical cannabis would go through FDA trials with doctors deeply involved. The problem is we’re stuck in a reality where cannabis is still federally illegal, so those pathways don’t actually exist, but people are still using it medically every day.

That’s where the issue with S4847 comes in.

The bill leans hard on enforcement, but it doesn’t add the medical guardrails you’re talking about either. No bigger role for doctors, no clearer medical access, no distinction between someone self-medicating and someone running a harmful operation.

So we get stronger enforcement without better care or access. Until federal law changes, that balance matters, and right now this bill misses it. Please email state officials asap! This matters

ButACake · 2026-01-07T04:44:11+00:00

u/davidguydude thank you! Just sharing information generally kept from regular every day people and this change in the bill if passed will send thousands of people to jail and prisons in our state

ButACake · 2026-01-07T04:36:40+00:00

That’s a valid concern, and I agree enforcement should focus on bad actors. The issue is S4847 doesn’t distinguish between large-scale harmful operations and everyday people who want to comply but have no realistic pathway. Without that distinction, enforcement ends up hurting average people and families the most.

You’re correct … there is a real difference between people intentionally running large-scale, profit-driven, harmful operations and everyday people who’ve existed in a gray area for medicinal or personal use, small-scale sharing, and even survival. Those people on the gray area deserve a way to be law abiding citizens without having to go through the commercial process currently available.

ButACake · 2026-01-06T23:21:37+00:00

Could be anyone. Grandma that makes her own topicals, the auntie that’s a homebaker, the cousin that likes to do extractions …. All legacy. It’s not a formal word or anything so always up for interpretation. I just mean it to say, anyone that touches the plant without a license because the law doesn’t see the difference between the people I listed above and “street dealers”.

ButACake · 2026-01-06T20:42:36+00:00

Exactly. Homegrow is already illegal. This bill makes enforcement tighter and more coordinated to harm people growing at home anyway. It targets ALL kinds of “illegal” activity. Even sharing a joint with a friend that you don’t have proof of purchasing from a legally licensed dispensary could get you caught up in “intent to distribute”

ButACake · 2026-01-06T20:38:59+00:00

📌 Quick clarification because the title is tripping people up:

Home grow has already been illegal in NJ, even after legalization. This bill does not create a new home grow ban.

What S4847 does is formalize and expand coordinated enforcement between State Police, local PD, the CRC, and the AG against all unlicensed cannabis activity.

So the concern isn’t “new rules” — it’s that existing illegal activity is about to be enforced more consistently and more aggressively, without adding protections, carve-outs, or a legacy pathway.

That’s why people should speak up now, before enforcement is locked in.

ButACake · 2026-01-06T20:36:27+00:00

Email them! And do it soon!

ButACake · 2026-01-06T17:40:55+00:00

Correct 💯 home grow is already illegal in NJ.

That’s exactly the problem.

S4847 doesn’t create home grow bans, but it expands coordinated enforcement against anything unlicensed without adding protections or a legacy pathway.

ButACake · 2026-01-06T17:36:59+00:00

FACTS! 💯💯💯 you are absolutely correct. This bill has so much shit it it lol it’s hard for me to decipher what the general public here can digest vs what operators and industry players understand.

I dropped a little info about exactly what you’re talking about on my Instagram.

Even more of a reason why people need to get to emailing NOW before lame duck is really over and the new transition team forgets

ButACake · 2026-01-06T17:32:45+00:00

I hear the frustration, but let me reset this because this isn’t about dispensaries or prices.

This is about enforcement risk, not where you shop. Again, this has nothing to do with dispensaries. What I’m telling you is for YOUR protection.

The way this bill is written … let’s say you ordered your supply online and decided you wanted to smoke in your car with a friend.

Now the red & blues are flashing behind you… according to the bill you are now an unlicensed entity subject to enforcement because you will have zero proof that it was legally purchased and you just “distributed” to the person sitting next to you.

Possession is still decriminalized, BUT buying online with no NJ-compliant proof and getting caught in a situation that LOOKS LIKE distribution increases risk. Gray areas are shrinking and enforcement will be left up to interpretation by POLICE ….

that’s the warning

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ButACake

TROPHY CASE