Anthony Minniti

Anthony V. Minniti believes that in October he will open a first anywhere: a cannabis dispensary under the same roof as a pharmacy.

Minniti, who since 1997 has operated the Bell Rexall Pharmacy at Haddon and Kaighn avenues in Camden, on Friday, August 18, had his recreational marijuana license approved at a meeting of the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission.

When Bell's doors first opened at the corner of Kaighn and Haddon avenues, Albert Einstein and Edwin Hubble were researchers at California Institute of Technology; Bela Lugosi was starring in the first Dracula movie; construction of the Empire State Building had just ended and had just begun on Rockefeller Center; "The Star-Spangled Banner" was adopted as the U.S. national anthem; and marijuana had yet to be federally banned, so pharmacies like Bell sold cannabis products.

Owners of a landmark Parkside drugstore hope to make marijuana – an old-time remedy – new again, with a medical cannabis dispensary at their historic Bell Rexall Pharmacy.

If pharmacist Anthony Minniti gets a state license to sell medicinal cannabis, Bell Rexall would open its doors to a whole new customer-base and attract more attention to other nearby businesses at Haddon and Kaighn avenues.