New Jersey Medical Marijuana Program Sees Steep Drop In Registered Patients

Most other states allow people to grow their own marijuana at home, particularly medical marijuana users, while New Jersey still fully bans it.

By Sophie Nieto-Muñoz, New Jersey Monitor

New Jersey’s steep decline in medical marijuana patients continued with another 20 percent drop since the beginning of 2025.

Between January and December, roughly 14,000 people let their medical marijuana registration lapse, a trend that has continued since the recreational market launched in April 2022.

As of mid-December, 51,776 people are registered medical marijuana patients, according to the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission. In June 2022, that figure was nearly 130,000.

Medical marijuana cardholders get some benefits.

Dispensaries hold patient-only hours, give patients special parking, and let them skip ahead of recreational users in line. Patients also avoid paying cannabis taxes and can purchase up to 3 ounces of cannabis per month.

Before the recreational market opened, patients were the only New Jerseyans who could legally buy marijuana.

In recent years, officials have attempted to attract people back to the medical program by dropping the price of a registration card from $200 to $10 (there’s also a free digital option). People must also obtain a card from doctors who qualify to write medical cannabis prescriptions for treatment of conditions like epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, cancer and more.

The drop in enrollment has reflected the trends other states have seen when launching adult-use weed. But most other states allow people to grow their own marijuana at home, particularly medical marijuana users, while New Jersey still fully bans it.

This story was first published by New Jersey Monitor.