Eight years later, medical marijuana has indeed become big business in the Garden State, with some of the dispensaries pushing the limits of the nonprofit law. Two of the dispensaries have struck agreements with out-of-state, for-profit corporations to manage operations, while leaders of a third formed a pair of for-profit businesses affiliated with the dispensary. Another dispensary pays rent for a building owned by its chief executive.
"The nonprofit idea of the dispensaries is a canard," said Bill Thomas, the former chief operating officer of the Compassionate Care Foundation medical dispensary in Egg Harbor Township. "The only thing that made them not-for-profit was the name."
Thomas left his job in 2014 after complaining that state regulations made it nearly impossible to make money in the medical marijuana business. Still, he said, some operators found ways around those regulations by setting up for-profit businesses that were paid to manage the dispensaries or provide other services.