Cannabis in Newark

Legal age

21+, residents and visitors

Per transaction

Up to 1 oz

Possession

Up to 6 oz total

State sales tax

6.625%

Newark local tax

2% on retail cannabis sales (city ordinance)

Consumption areas

State allows them; Newark's ordinance caps indoor areas at two

Delivery

Out-of-town delivery services may serve Newark under state law

What Newark added on top of state law

Newark chose to allow cannabis businesses rather than ban them before the state's August 21, 2021 opt-out deadline. According to Patch, the city's ordinance limits the number and types of cannabis businesses and sets local taxes by license class, with odor, security and hours rules and random inspections. Delivery is harder to police locally: the city cannot regulate out-of-town delivery services that bring orders to Newark customers, because state law allows them.

State law caps any municipal cannabis transfer tax at 2% on retail sales, so Newark sits at the maximum. The Division of Taxation notes it does not handle local transfer taxes; questions go to the city. The social equity excise fee is charged to cultivators, not to shoppers at the counter. On a $50 purchase, the 6.625% state sales tax comes to about $3.31. Whether the 2% city tax shows as its own line depends on how the store prices it, so ask at the counter.

Where can you consume in Newark?

In private spaces where cigarette smoking is allowed, unless a landlord forbids it, and in licensed consumption areas attached to dispensaries. Those areas require photo ID, ban tobacco and outside alcohol, and you cannot leave with an open package. Newark's ordinance allows at most two indoor consumption areas in the city.

• Photo ID — 21+ with a valid government ID, including out-of-state licenses and passports.
• Stay under 1 oz — That is the per-transaction cap across flower, concentrates and edibles.
• Keep the receipt — It shows the 6.625% sales tax and any local tax.
• Leave it in New Jersey — Do not take it to New York or Pennsylvania by car, train or plane.

Newark dispensaries on Verdex

Full profiles cover URB'N Dispensary, City Leaf, Lilac Dispensary and Treeotics. New to dispensaries? Read our guide to ID, payment and questions to ask, and see the New Jersey page for state rules.