Pennsylvania and New Jersey took steps to open more MMJ dispensaries, the latest sign that the East Coast cannabis market, in particular, is gathering momentum.
While Pennsylvania’s new permits are simply regulators fulfilling what that state’s original 2016 MMJ law intended, New Jersey’s move is a distinct expansion of a system that has been in place since 2010.
Both developments underscore how the cannabis industry is ballooning as patients and doctors continue to realize the medical benefits of marijuana.
That, in turn, is unleashing explosive business opportunities, especially on the East Coast, which traditionally has favored limited MMJ business permits for private enterprise versus state programs with no license caps, as in Colorado and Oregon.
“If you look at the East Coast market, the patient populations are moving at a very fast clip in a number of different markets, much quicker than anybody would have imagined when (many of these state programs) took off,” said Michael Bronstein, co-founder of the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp.