Ascend New Jersey

The price of legal weed at New Jersey dispensaries is still high, but you now buy an eighth-ounce of cannabis for as little as $20 in some parts of the state.

The Asbury Park Press analyzed the medical marijuana and adult use cannabis menus at all 76 dispensaries in New Jersey on Nov. 14 to pinpoint the cheapest eighth-ounce of weed in the state, which averages at $46.17 for recreational customers and $42.34 for medical marijuana patients. Prices in the cannabis market can fluctuate from store-to-store and from day-to-day.

Among revenue sources, the borough expects to collect $400,000 in new funds from cannabis permit fees. While there are no public retail stores in the borough, the budget's revenues shows a new line item of $400,000 in cannabis fees.

Ascend has operated a medical marijuana growing facility near the intersection of Munsonhurst Road and Route 23 for several years and has received permission to expand into the adjacent former armory building to grow marijuana for sales into the public retail market.

Ascend Fort Lee will be open for recreational weed order pick-ups on Thursday, NJ Advance Media has been told exclusively by the multi-state operator that owns the dispensary.

This dispensary received its site approval from the Fort Lee Planning Board late Monday, the last step the firm needed to begin adult weed sales and become the 21st store in New Jersey to offer recreational adult weed.

A few people were lined up on Bloomfield Avenue outside Ascend on Tuesday, June 7, as the medical marijuana dispensary opened its doors at 10 a.m. to its first recreational customers — without municipal approval.

But by 1:15 p.m., sales stopped after the interim Montclair Township attorney notified Ascend if it didn’t stop recreational sales, the township would send code enforcement and police, Caitlin Fleishman, Ascend’s director of public affairs, said.

New Jersey’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission approved five new recreational dispensaries last week. The Apothecarium in Lodi, Ascend in Montclair, and Garden State Dispensary locations in Eatontown, Woodbridge and Union were approved to expand from medicinal to recreational sales.

There’s no set date for when these new locations will be open to sell recreational cannabis, as they still have to complete a few more steps in their process.

One month into the nascent cannabis industry’s launch, consumers have purchased $24 million in recreational weed, regulators said during a meeting Tuesday where more permits for dispensaries were approved.

Another five medical-only dispensaries will soon be able to start selling adult-use cannabis, joining the 12 dispensaries that started selling recreational weed on April 21. The new locations will be Garden State Dispensaries in Woodbridge, Union, and Eatontown; The Apothecarium in Lodi; and Ascend in Montclair.

Montclair, which missed out on getting first crack at recreational marijuana sales when New Jersey allowed sales on April 21, is now looking at next month for adult-use sales.

Last week, the Township Council adopted a resolution allowing Ascend Wellness, which currently sells medical marijuana in town, to also sell adult-use cannabis.

Ascend's application for a state license is now with the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission, and company officials hope it will be approved at the CRC's next meeting on May 24.

Bright and early for first legal weed sales in NJ

The first sales occurred before sunrise in Paterson and Bloomfield, where two RISE Dispensaries opened at 6 a.m.

Tony Marrero from Garfield was the third person in line. He said he had come to Paterson many times to buy weed, but this was the first time he was doing it legally, without fear of being arrested by the police officers stationed at the parking lot entrance.

“I’m excited, I feel like a kid in a candy store,” Marrero said. “Give me some of that, and some of that and a little of this.”

Initially, a handful of sites already operating as medicinal dispensaries will be able to expand into the adult-use market. So far, the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) has approved 13 dispensaries, known officially as Alternative Treatment Clinics (ATCs), for recreational sales. The sites are run by seven operators including Acreage Holdings, Ascend New Jersey, Columbia Care, Curaleaf, Green Thumb Industries, TerrAscend, and Verano Holdings.