ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 913

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  MARCH 20, 2025

      The Assembly Appropriations Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 913.

As reported, this bill expands the list of medical conditions that qualify a patient for the medical use of cannabis to include sickle cell anemia.  Sickle cell anemia is an inherited blood disorder characterized primarily by chronic anemia and periodic episodes of pain. The medical use of cannabis can treat or alleviate the pain or other symptoms associated with certain medical conditions.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      The Office of Legislative Services concludes that the bill will increase the Cannabis Regulatory Commission’s expenditures by an indeterminate but marginal amount to regulate participation in the medicinal cannabis program by qualifying individuals diagnosed with sickle cell disease.  Given the well-established regulatory infrastructure for the medicinal cannabis program, the addition of sickle cell disease patients to the program’s current patient population, which approximated 64,000 individuals in 2024, would have a modest impact on State expenditures.

      State revenues will increase by a maximum of $14,200 annually, in the form of the $10.00 fee charged for a physical identification card for sickle cell disease patients and caregivers who are newly registered for the medicinal cannabis program and, in future years, those patients and caregivers who renew their registration.

      Since June 2024, the commission, which administers and regulates the medicinal cannabis program, offers new and existing medicinal cannabis patients and their caregivers the option of a digital identification card at no cost.  To the extent that newly-enrolled sickle cell disease patients and their caregivers choose digital identification cards over physical cards, State revenues would increase by a lesser amount.