DeVeaux Steps Down as NJCBA President

On Apr 28, 2023

The New Jersey CannaBusiness Association (NJCBA) has announced that Edmund DeVeaux has stepped down as president effective this week. DeVeaux, who first took over as president in December 2020, has accepted another position within the state. Scott Rudder, the founder of the NJCBA and its first president, will take over as interim president while a search for a new leader is conducted. Though stepping down as president, DeVeaux will remain an active NJCBA board member, lending his voice and policy experience to the association in the ever-evolving cannabis marketplace.

“I have been fortunate to be at NJCBA during the most transitional period of growth in the state’s cannabis history,” said DeVeaux. “What we have been able to achieve together, while by no means the end of the road, is still remarkable. It has been my honor to work with a dedicated group of individuals and companies to bring New Jersey’s cannabis industry into focus. At the same time, we’ve been able to take the NJCBA from an advocacy organization to New Jersey’s Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, and I thank everyone who helped get us there.”

“While leaving is difficult, I could not be leaving NJCBA in more capable hands with Scott Rudder,” added DeVeaux. “Scott is a rarity; a politician who was willing to meet and listen to people, hear what they were saying and, eventually, change his position on medical cannabis and legalization. That road led him to found this organization six and a half years ago and be a champion for medical patients and social equity. His leadership in the ‘94 No More’ effort and the legalization ballot campaign shaped the course of the industry and changed lives.”

Rudder founded the NJCBA in 2016 to serve as the state’s premiere cannabis trade industry association. The organization has helped lead several prominent efforts around cannabis in that time, including adult-use legalization and expansion of access for medical patients. Currently, NJCBA aims to help create a more equitable and fair market in the New Jersey cannabis space.

“We are saddened to be losing Ed but grateful for his years of service to the cannabis industry,” said Rudder. “Ed took the reins of NJCBA at a critical moment in the state’s history and led this organization with a distinct sense of purpose and an expertise that is second-to-none. He was there at the start of this endeavor and I can think of few people who have done more to positively push forward the cause of cannabis in New Jersey than Ed DeVeaux.”

“Looking to the future,” added Rudder, “we still have many and varied challenges to the industry. Those challenges must be met, in part, by working with state and local governments to ease the pathway to cannabis business creation and ownership.”

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