The Drugs Girl marijuana dispensary in Jersey Metropolis, co-owned by rapper and actor Ice-T, has closed after lower than a yr in operation, however its story displays the rising pains (and promise) of New Jersey’s evolving hashish business. The dispensary opened in April 2025 following years of planning after legalization, with Ice-T attending the grand opening and expressing delight in bringing a minority-owned, community-focused enterprise to his house state.

Whereas elevated competitors throughout New Jersey’s quickly increasing hashish market in the end made it troublesome for the placement to stay open, The Drugs Girl stood out for its dedication to native hiring, New Jersey-based hashish manufacturers, and partnerships with neighborhood organizations equivalent to The Final Prisoner Challenge and Hudson County Group School. These efforts bolstered the model’s mission of social accountability, schooling, and entry to high quality hashish merchandise.

It isn’t the primary celebrity-owned cannabis-based enterprise to exit of enterprise in current months. Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon closed his Newark hashish dispensary, Hashstoria, in 2025 after working for lower than a yr. Throughout its planning section, the enterprise was envisioned as an adult-use hashish retailer with long-term objectives of rising right into a community-centered vacation spot, together with a premier consumption lounge and wellness middle targeted on selling well being, schooling, and neighborhood empowerment.

Regardless of the closure, the Drugs Girl model continues to thrive past New Jersey. Its flagship retailer in Bellflower, California, based by Charis Burrett, stays open and profitable, carrying ahead the corporate’s unique mission of “offering secure, inexpensive, and high-quality plant-based treatments.”

Whereas no purpose was given for the closure, many famous that the dispensary was inconveniently positioned on a road crowded with extra distinguished and extra simply accessible dispensaries.