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New Jersey’s cannabis industry is building with careful licensing, growing retail infrastructure, and established regulatory frameworks. The state is creating space for real relationships; between cultivators and retailers, between media outlets and brands, and between entrepreneurs who believe collaboration matters more than competition.
The State (of) Flower Tour arrived in New Jersey in June with the same philosophy. Small, focused, and connected. Ten states across the Northeast. Each stop building relationships that extend beyond a single event. Each partnership designed to strengthen the community.
Round One: Building on Connection
The State (of) Flower Tour’s New Jersey launch stayed intentional by staying focused. Rather than trying to do everything everywhere, we centered our energy on meaningful activations with partners who shared the tour’s values.
At Simply Pure in Trenton, we hosted Media Day; a gathering of industry professionals where conversations happened naturally, and authentic voices got documented. Marketing by Yaya captured interviews on behalf of The Traveling Cannabis Writer, Exhale Social Pro captured interviews, as well as Heady NJ; creating discussion that reflects what’s happening in New Jersey cannabis and across the country.
At CannaVibes in Elmwood Park, we hosted Canna Create, an evening where artists and cannabis enthusiasts gathered to create, connect, and celebrate cannabis culture. This was community, co-hosted and sponsored by Gily Essentials, supported by CannaVibes’ in partnership with Illicit Gardens, Select, and Green Thumb Industries to make the event possible.
At ReLeaf dispensary in Williamstown, we launched a consumer-focused giveaway that gave the community a direct way to engage with the tour and the partnership.
Each activation was intentional. Each one created lasting connections between the people involved. That’s what small, focused, and connected actually means: you show up, you do the work, and you build relationships that don’t end when the event does.
Round Two: Coming Back Stronger
The reason we’re coming back to New Jersey is because the partnerships we built in round one are strong enough to go deeper, and because this time, Dasheeda Dawson joins: a regulator who shaped policy in New York City and Portland. An author who wrote the playbook for cannabis entrepreneurship. A strategist who understands that an industry only works when all its pieces are connected.
Together, we are traveling to 10 states and diving into more conversations, more partnerships, and to help bring and share opportunities for the people building this market to see themselves reflected in the industry’s future.
Thank you New Jersey Partners and Sponsors
Thank you to the rest of our partners, sponsors, and extended community who made New Jersey’s launch possible: Beard Bros Media, Greenlane Communications, The Mycelia Group, Super Sanchez Worldwide, Cash Color Cannabis, The Other Magazine, Marijuana Venture, The CannaJo!nt, Illicit Gardens, Munchy Merchy, and Hey Miss Leena.
Your commitment to building this industry together…connected, collaborative, and grounded is what makes the difference. New Jersey’s cannabis market will be defined by relationships like these.
Veronica “Vee” Castillo is the Traveling Cannabis Writer, an international traveling plant medicine journalist who has spent over seven years documenting cannabis culture across the United States and internationally, including Thailand, where she explores the intersection of ancient plant medicine traditions and modern cannabis culture. With over 25 publications and celebrity interviews to her credit, along with her role as former Communications Director for a leading minority cannabis trade association and author of Cannabis Legacy Chronicles, she has dedicated her career to amplifying BIPOC voices and authentic stories in plant medicine. Back on the road covering cannabis internationally, Vee helps wellness and cannabis businesses worldwide transform their unique stories into strategic content that drives measurable growth and global visibility.
