John Schroyer
A vertically integrated New Jersey cannabis company had several of its business licenses yanked this week by regulators, who said the revocations were due to $700,000 in unpaid permit fees.
According to NJBiz.com, the state Cannabis Control Commission on Thursday voted unanimously to revoke Harmony Foundation’s recreational permits for cultivation and manufacturing that were just granted in December, saying that state fees for those permits had not yet been paid.
The commission let the company keep its recreational retail permit, however, since records indicated Harmony had paid the $100,000 fee for that license.
The revocation means that Harmony’s recreational dispensary in Seacaucus must now purchase all of its inventory from other companies in the cannabis supply chain, instead of being able to stock from its own goods.
Harmony CEO Shaya Brodchandel told NJBiz.com he was “baffled” by the “rash decision,” called it an “alarming wakeup call” to cannabis entrepreneurs, and asserted that his company remains compliant with state law.
“If we had been notified that this action was being considered, we would have gladly explained that we are in complete compliance with the Feb. 15 agreement we reached with the CRC in terms of paying our license fees,” Brodchandel told NJBiz.com. “This same agreement allowed us to launch personal-use retail in our Secaucus dispensary.”
Brodchandel, who also serves as the president of the New Jersey Cannabis Trade Association, didn’t indicate if his company will appeal the decision or what its next steps will be.
The commission made a similarly sudden move in April when it revoked business licenses held by multistate operator Curaleaf, and then quickly reversed itself by reinstating the permits days later, which then led to allegations of suspicious political influence.
