At a morning news conference, Gov. Phil Murphy announced New Jersey’s medical marijuana program will grow like a weed: jumping from just six Alternative Treatment Centers to 108 distributed evenly across the state. He said Jersey currently has more than 47,000 card-carrying participants and adds 3,000 additional patients each month.
“Meeting these needs is vital to our ongoing work of ensuring a medical marijuana program that is more accessible to more patients, and which ensures a supply of high-quality medicinal cannabis needed to meet demand and at lower prices,” Murphy said.
The increase includes 24 cultivation, 30 manufacturing and 54 separate dispensary sites. More, it upstages a medical marijuana program expansion bill that’s just days away from an Assembly vote. The governor supports the bill in principle, but disagrees with several aspects, which could lead to a conditional veto.
“The bill’s on his desk, or will be soon, and so we’re hopeful that we can work all these issues out together. But I think the governor’s goal is to make sure there’s enough product for patients who need it,” said Sen. Joe Vitale, one of the sponsors of the senate bill.