New Jersey Governor Murphy announced yesterday that current NJCRC Executive Director Jeff Brown is returning to the New Jersey Department of Health to take on the role of Deputy Commissioner for Healthcare Systems, effective May 20, 2024.
Current NJCRC Deputy Executive Director and former General Counsel Christopher Riggs will assume the role of acting Executive Director upon Brown’s departure.
Brown has served as the Executive Director since the formation of the NJCRC in April 2021, and before that as Assistant Commissioner for the Division of Medicinal Marijuana at the New Jersey Department of Health since 2018.
Despite the inevitable friction and challenges associated with this nascent field and reporting to a board of very active, full time commissioners, Brown has proven a steady hand at the tiller both at NJDOH and at NJCRC. Throughout his tenure in both agencies, Brown has been instrumental in the development and implementation of New Jersey’s medical and recreational laws and rules. He led the reinvention of New Jersey’s moribund-by-design medical marijuana program, and then stood up the NJCRC as a new agency to regulate both adult-use and medicinal cannabis. Under Brown’s leadership, New Jersey’s cannabis market has grown each year with 2024 cannabis sales expected to top $1 billion.
Though Brown will be a hard act to follow, Acting Executive Director Riggs is expected to be another steady hand at the tiller leading regulation of the market. Well-equipped to assume the role of Executive Director, Riggs has worked for the NJCRC since its inception. He initially served as the NJCRC’s first chief counsel and led the drafting and promulgation of the laws and rules that govern the industry. Before that, he was a Deputy Attorney General in the Office of the Attorney General and was assistant chief of the section representing the Department of Health and Human Services.
Well regarded among attorneys and industry veterans alike, it is expected Riggs and the NJCRC will now focus on streamlining and rationalizing regulatory processes to improve oversight and reduce bureaucratic delay and red tape. Riggs has also indicated he intends to prioritize clinical registrant applications and social equity certification process at the NJCRC.
We wish both well in their new roles.