N.J. Gov. Murphy wants more equity in the state’s flowering cannabis industry

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The flavor is described as “a delightful mix of sour lemon, sweet tangerine, with hints of diesel and pine.” This strain of cannabis, launched last January, is named after New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.

“We were like, ‘Let’s try to get Governor Murphy’s attention with this one,’” said David Nicolas, CEO of Prolific Growhouse. “I didn’t expect him to give me a surprise visit.”

Murphy’s visit to the Mt. Holly–based cannabis cultivator happened Thursday, where he was introduced to the flier that was promoting the strain named for him, “Murphy’s Sourz.”

“I’m honored,” the governor said, as he posed for a picture with the flier in hand.

Prolific Growhouse is a Black-owned enterprise. The governor visited the company to showcase his administration’s efforts to ensure the state’s cannabis industry is equitable.

It’s been a couple of years since the first licenses for growers were awarded in New Jersey. To date, 1,943 licenses have been approved by the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission, according to state officials. The majority of them, 70%, have been awarded to “diversely-owned” businesses. There are 115 adult-use businesses in operation, including 13 cultivators.

“I still want to see… more equity, more reward and redemption for the folks who were crushed by the war on drugs,” the governor said.

A ‘role model’ for what the industry in New Jersey should look like

Prolific Growhouse is in expansion mode. It’s currently only using a portion of the space it rents in a tucked-away industrial park.

After putting on the personal protective equipment, Nicolas began the tour by showing the room where cannabis is grown, processed, packaged and marketed for consumption.

Build-out plans include new flower rooms, space for cloning plants, additional packing rooms, a vault and an employee break room. There is also a full irrigation system for the plants in the works.

“To finish this, we’ll need $700,000,” Nicolas explains. “We were fortunate enough to get a NJEDA grant, which covered a small portion of it.”

Murphy praised Nicolas for the operation he established.

“You’re a role model for exactly what we want this industry to look like,” he said. “Somebody who has been crushed, sadly, on the one hand by the war on drugs and has reemerged as a bright star.”

A ‘veteran’ in the war on drugs

“I use cannabis to survive and pay bills,” said Nicolas, a first-generation Haitian American who grew up in Trenton.

“My mom, she had breast cancer [when] I was growing up,” he said. “By the time I was 13, cannabis was the only way of putting food on the table.”

By the time he reached Rowan University, he said, he not only used cannabis for medicinal purposes, he brought a community together. Nicolas claims a lot of athletes on campus came to him during stressful moments like finals.

Around 2019, he noticed that he was being pulled over by police more.

“It wasn’t by normal police,” Nicolas said.”I wasn’t being asked for my ID when I was getting pulled over. It was basically stop and frisk, most of the time.”

He was arrested a couple of times and nearly flunked out of college because he had to choose between a court appearance that fell on the same day as a final.

“I had to explain to my professors who didn’t want me to skip this final on why I had to skip this final, because it was either between my degree or my freedom,” Nicolas said.

Now using his experiences as a positive, Nicolas assembled his team in 2021, the year Murphy signed three bills that legalized recreational marijuana. Prolific Growhouse now has 10 employees, with an average age of 25.

“This group is probably the youngest in the nation, operating a legal cannabis business,” he said. “But everyone here has hustle, and is definitely dedicated towards this company.”

Nicolas said the state is going in the right direction in striving for equity, but the lack of capital is “where the diversity is going to not be the same.”

“People who come from my background, especially from the inner city, [most] don’t have the amount of capital that it takes to start up one of these,” he said. ”I think the state can do a little better; provide more grants, allow the grants that are open for businesses that are non-cannabis to be open for cannabis businesses.”