New Jersey S1792 Would Cut Medical Cannabis Costs for Medicaid and NJ FamilyCare Patients

13 January 2026

New Jersey legislators have introduced a bill that would create a state-run subsidy to reduce the cost of medical cannabis for certain low-income patients, with the discount applied directly at licensed dispensaries.

The proposal, Senate Bill 1792, is sponsored by State Senators Troy Singleton and Joseph F. Vitale and was pre-filed for the 2026 legislative session. The measure was introduced in the Senate and referred to the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee on January 13, 2026.

At the center of the bill is a requirement that the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission establish a program to subsidize up to 20% of the purchase price of medical cannabis and medical cannabis products for registered qualifying patients who are enrolled in the State Medicaid program or NJ FamilyCare. Under the bill text, the subsidy would reduce the price listed on a dispensary’s or clinical registrant’s website, and the discount would be applied at the point of sale after any other discounts or price reductions are applied.

For medical cannabis patients who use Medicaid or NJ FamilyCare, the practical effect is meant to be straightforward: a lower out-of-pocket total at checkout, assuming the patient is registered in the state medical cannabis program and requests the subsidy. The bill’s structure also suggests lawmakers are trying to keep the program focused on medical use, not the adult-use market, by tying eligibility to the medical program and requiring the commission to administer the subsidy through regulated medical channels.

The bill assigns the Cannabis Regulatory Commission the job of building the machinery behind the discount. The commission would need to develop income and enrollment verification procedures and create a mechanism for dispensaries and clinical registrants to quickly verify whether a registered qualifying patient is currently enrolled in Medicaid or NJ FamilyCare. The commission would be required to coordinate with the Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services in the Department of Human Services to develop that enrollment verification system.

Dispensaries and clinical registrants would also have new notice duties. They would be required to inform patients and caregivers about the subsidy program through posted signage. They could also provide additional notice verbally or in writing. But they would not apply the subsidy, or attempt to verify whether a patient is enrolled in Medicaid or NJ FamilyCare, unless the patient or a designated or institutional caregiver requests it. That detail matters because it means the discount may depend, at least in part, on whether patients know to ask.

To cover the cost of the discount, the bill directs the commission to reimburse dispensaries and clinical registrants for subsidies applied in qualifying transactions. Reimbursements would be paid from funds available through the Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Fund, or other funds made available to the commission for this purpose. The legislation also amends the law governing that fund to add reimbursements for the subsidy program as an explicit appropriations category.

If Senate Bill 1792 becomes law, it would take effect 90 days after enactment. Until then, the next step is committee consideration in the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee.