Verano in Readington, MPX New Jersey in Pleasantville, and Columbia Care New Jersey in Vineland were granted medical cannabis cultivation permits, the New Jersey Department of Health announced Tuesday.
This marks the permitting of five of the “new six” medical cannabis businesses awarded licenses by New Jersey in December 2018. There has been movement in this space multiple times in the last two months.
Three medical marijuana dispensaries in New Jersey moved closer to opening their doors.
Regulators awarded permits to grow medical marijuana to three more companies, the state health department said Tuesday:
- Columbia Care NJ.
- MPX NJ.
- Verano.
The cultivation licensing round advances a process that began more than a year ago in an effort to stimulate the state’s MMJ industry.
The New Jersey Department of Health this week issued permits to three additional companies to begin growing medical marijuana. This brings the total number of cultivation permits issued as part of the Medical Marijuana Program (MMP)'s awards in December 2018 to five.
These permits were issued after comprehensive reviews including several site inspections, background checks of corporate officers and reviews of security operations and cultivation facilities.
A medical marijuana pharmacy should open here in mid-December, though representatives for the developer say its locally grown products might not be available for sale until early February 2020.
Columbia Care New Jersey LLC representatives were before the city Planning Board on Wednesday night. The board agreed to support the facility opening with only a temporary certificate of occupancy, although the decision must come from the city construction code official.
Several national cannabis companies have been lobbying in New Jersey since last year, as the state tried and failed to legalize adult-use cannabis. Instead, the state expanded its medical cannabis program, which has been in place for nearly a decade and saw meaningful growth only after Governor Phil Murphy took office in 2018. A majority of the companies lobbying hold medical cannabis licenses in the state, namely Curaleaf New Jersey, Green Thumb Industries, Columbia Care New Jersey, and TerrAscend NJ (formerly NETA NJ LLC), a subsidiary of Canadian cannabis company TerrAscend Corp.
Construction is started on converting a former industrial building at 1560 North West Boulevard into a growing facility for medical marijuana that will end up on pharmacy shelves at another Vineland site.
Columbia Care, the owner, received municipal zoning approval for the grow facility in July and then finalized its purchase.
New Jersey state approval last month for six new medicinal marijuana integrated dispensaries means more access to the drug for patients in need, but not without some controversy for the communities involved.
As one of the largest medical marijuana operators in the nation, Columbia Care knows what it takes to launch its newest operation in New Jersey, the 14th state in which it will have a license.
The two applicants are linked to larger parent companies.
MPX Bioceutical Corp. operates medical and recreational marijuana businesses in the United States and Canada, according to its website.
"Six very strong applicants were selected, including minority-owned and women-owned businesses," Health Commissioner Shereef Elnahal said. "We'll meet with them early next year to refine their timetable for growing product and opening their doors."