Mollie Hartman Lustig – Valley Wellness

With the anticipation of expanding into cultivation, manufacturing, and additional dispensary licenses, Mollie Lustig joined the Valley Wellness team in January 2026. Mollie oversees Regulatory Affairs and Compliance, and Human Resource Administration at Valley. As an early Medical Marijuana Program patient, she has been involved in the cannabis community for over a decade and has volunteered countless time to advancing cannabis industry initiatives throughout the state over the last 9 years.

For several decades B.C. (before cannabis) she had the unique opportunity to represent a handful of NJ’s 564 municipalities, learning first-hand how New Jersey legislation and municipal governance operates. When New Jersey’s medical cannabis program began to take shape, Mollie recognized that the licensing challenges would largely occur at the local level – a landscape she was intimately familiar with. In 2018, she parlayed her municipal governance law experience into a burgeoning cannabis law practice representing cannabis clients on issues such as operational compliance, regulatory compliance, state and local licensing, litigation strategy and business transactions. At the firm level, Mollie crafted the highly scrutinized compliance architecture required for dozens of legal operators in the New Jersey cannabis industry. This included drafting state-compliant Management Service Agreements (MSAs), SOPS, Vendor contracts, etc.

Mollie has been a member of the NJSBA’s Cannabis and Psychedelic Law Special Committee (“CPLSC”) since 2017 and has served as the organization’s Co-Chair for the last two years. Mollie has been involved in preparing White Papers on regulatory impacts of cannabis legislation, testifying before the New Jersey House and Senate, the CRC, and more.  She has been and continues to be an NJICLE moderator and lecturer, speaking on topics including Diversely Held Businesses, Municipal Approvals, Sustainability and Labor Peace Agreements, Landlord/Tenant issues in cannabis, regulatory updates, has been a guest lecturer at the Yale Club, and is a frequent presenter for NJ.com’s Cannabis Insider programming.

Mollie is an instructor for Cannabis Certified and was an instructor at Rutgers Law School Certificate for their Cannabis Law and Business Certificate Program. Mollie was named a Super Lawyers Rising Star in the area of Cannabis Law for 2022 and 2023; the NJ Insider’s Top 100 Cannabis Power List (2022); was awarded NJ.com’s 2023 Cannabis Award for Excellence in Cannabis Law: Municipal Law and was nominated in the category of Excellence in Cannabis Law: Applications. She also brought home the award for Excellence in Cannabis Law for the Firm. This is her (I lost count) year named to the Global Top 200 Cannabis Lawyers by Cannabis Law Report and Cannabis Law Journal.

Mollie’s professional work is complemented her long history of civic activity in the State and Somerset County. She has long served as a volunteer attorney with Volunteer Lawyer’s for Justice, as well as the Committee Vice-Chair for the Supreme Court of New Jersey District Fee Arbitration Committee for District XII. Mollie remains extremely involved at the hyper local level, routinely volunteering in her hometown of Watchung and also throughout the County and State – this past year she organized a donation drive for toiletry items for needy families in Somerset County, became a member of Moms Helping Moms, and adopted a family who lost their home in the California wildfires, collecting two 50 gallon bins worth of new clothing, toys and supplies for the children of the family so they could begin school in New Jersey – all from local moms.

Articles

• June 12, 2024: How Will the Federal Reclassification of Marijuana Affect New Jersey’s Cannabis Industry? (New Jersey Law Journal)
• April 3, 2024: Tenants Seek to Join NJ Rent Control Exemption Suit (Law360)
• March 5, 2024: 3^rd Circ. Cannabis Case May Leave NJ Employers in Limbo (Law360)
• December 6, 2022: What are cannabis consumption lounges and when will we see them in N.J.? (msn.com)
• December 6, 2022: Rutgers Law Partnership Provides Free Cannabis Education (Law360)
• June 21, 2022: The Morristown Cannabis Licensing Process Raises Questions: The Morristown Cannabis Licensing Process Raises Questions (headynj.com)

Published/Unpublished Cases

• Om 309-311 6th St. v. City of Union City, No. 21-12051 (KM) (JRA), 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51999, at *1 (D.N.J. Mar. 23, 2022)
• Superior Court of New Jersey – Appellate Division Docket No. A-3742-19 City of Union City, By and Through Alejandro Velazquez, as Public Officer v. Christopher Williams, Suez Water New Jersey, Inc., Public Service Electric and Gas Company, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Submitted March 14, 2023 – Decided June 2, 2023 Superior Court of New Jersey – Appellate Division Docket No. A-2813-13T4
• Kanauss v. City of Burlington, No. 1:19-cv-06474-RMB-JS, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 178432 (D.N.J. Sep. 28, 2020)
• Magnani v. Northvale Zoning Bd. of Adjustment, 2018 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 5994
• Kui v. Bergen Cty. Prosecutor’s Office, No. A-1155-14T4, 2016 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 1204 (App. Div. May 25, 2016)
• Hillsborough Props., L.L.C. v. Twp. of Hillsborough, No. A-2209-13T2, 2015 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 1504 (App. Div. June 23, 2015)
• Martha Greenblatt and Martin Greenblatt v. Construction Board of Appeals, Jack Marold, Barry Van Horn, John Cilo, Jr., Steven Rodzinak, David Meyers, Howard Klein, and Borough of North Plainfield Submitted January 21, 2015 – Decided February 23, 2015 On appeal from Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Somerset County, Docket No. L-1332-12 Superior Court Of New Jersey – Appellate Division Docket No. A-0
• Captain and Former Acting Chief Raymond Cox v. Jennifer Blumenthal, City Manager, and the City of Brigantine Submitted March 25, 2015 – Decided May 4, 2015 On appeal from Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Atlantic County, Docket No. L-3514-13.

Socials

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