in our Spotlight on business tonight the state's cannabis Regulatory Commission punishes yet another high-profile cannabis retailer the board stripped Harmony of its licenses for manufacturing and cultivating cannabis saying the company owes hundreds of thousands of dollars to the state Ted Goldberg reports on Harmony's response and the legal hurdles ahead for the company Harmony cannot grow or manufacture any adult use cannabis New Jersey's cannabis Regulatory Commission has brought the hammer down on Harmony revoking some of their licenses after accusing them of not paying seven hundred thousand dollars in licensing fees the CRC granted more than a hundred new licenses yesterday but they've also ruled that Harmony can no longer grow or manufacture cannabis though they can still sell it Harmony CEO Shia broadchandal said he was baffled by the decision saying in a statement if we had been notified that this action was being considered we would have gladly explained that we are are in complete compliance with the February 15th agreement we reached with the njcrc in terms of paying our license fees the rash decision that was taken is an alarming wake-up call to the New Jersey entrepreneurs that are seeking to work within the confines established by state Regulators to further grow the Cannabis industry it's just like any other business license or even your driver's license if you're not going to pay the fees to restore your license it's going to get vacated but you still have the right at any point once you pay those fees to get it reinstated the next step for harmony is to pay those fees and resubmit certification materials attorney shirali Patel Works in cannabis law and she wonders if Harmony will be treated similarly to cure relief that company had a separate licensing issue resolved quickly after the CRC scheduled an emergency meeting to hear them out curly if it was a labor peace agreement that was not in place and it was you know a violation the regulations they were reaching out to elected officials and the legislature and they were really um you know their campaign worked so if they think that there is a lot to say about the fact that you know um political influence and and mass organizing to a degree does work the CRC isn't the first group to accuse Harmony of failing to pay them in separate lawsuits Harmony has been accused of misappropriating company funds not paying rents and failing to pay their attorneys a Harmony spokesman declines a comment on those cases last night the CRC heard other complaints about New Jersey's First full year of cannabis regulation from business owners to the landlords who host them the one individual has been in prison for 27 years here is his opportunity to make something of his life with this facility and I said look I'm going to do everything in my ability to get this over the line here we are eight months into this still nothing he's burning cash marginalized communities the ones who are supposed to benefit the most the most from this new industry are being pushed to the sidelines the lack of transparency and integrity Within These municipalities has created a stifling environment for cannabis businesses the CRC also voted to prioritize social Equity applicants for certain licenses those are businesses that are majority owned by people who have a low income live in economically disadvantaged areas or have been indicted for a marijuana offense for NJ Spotlight news I'm Ted Goldberg support for the business report provided by the Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey working for economic Prosperity by uniting business and Community leaders for 150 years membership and event information online at chamber snj.com [Music]