The New Jersey Legislature last year finally jump-started its medicinal cannabis program after nearly a decade of over-regulation-induced dysfunction. The Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Act (CUMCA) Jake’s Law was passed in July, promising patients expanded access to cannabis, with a variety of cannabis products and at a more reasonable, affordable price. But so far only one new alternative treatment center has opened and prices are still the highest in the country.
Abstract
Background
The six licensed operators in the New Jersey Medicinal Marijuana Program submit their strains of cannabis flower to a single laboratory, administered by the state’s Department of Health, for testing. The results of these tests are made available by the State on a web page for patients, allowing a study of the range of cannabinoid profiles available in the program.
Paterson’s long awaited marijuana medical dispensary is set to welcome its first patients Saturday.
Originally announced in December, 2018, the facility is owned by Green Thumb Industries (GTI), a national cannabis consumer packaged goods company and retailer. The Paterson location, called Rise Paterson, is GTI’s first medical marijuana dispensary in New Jersey.
GTI's store, Rise Paterson, is scheduled to open on Saturday. A ribbon cutting event and open house will be held on Friday from 10 a.m. to noon.
Attendees can tour the store, meet workers and learn more about New Jersey's medical marijuana program, according to GTI. Special guests include Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh and New Jersey Assistant Commissioner of Health Jeff Brown.
Green Thumb Industries Inc. (GTI) (CSE:GTII) (GTBIF), a leading national cannabis consumer packaged goods company and owner of Rise™ and Essence retail stores, will open Rise Paterson, its first store in New Jersey, on Saturday, December 21. This is GTI’s 37th store in the nation and the fourth store GTI has opened within the last month. GTI also operates a cultivation and processing facility in Paterson, which this month received its permit to begin growing cannabis, and is the first cannabis company to become operational in the state among the 2018 license award winners.
GTI Issued Permit to Dispense Medical Marijuana in New Jersey
The Facility is Now the Seventh Alternative Treatment Center to Operate
The New Jersey Department of Health today issued a permit allowing the GTI in Paterson to operate and dispense medical marijuana. GTI is now the seventh Alternative Treatment Center (ATC) dispensing marijuana for medical use in New Jersey.
GTI is the first ATC to open among the awards made by the New Jersey’s Medicinal Marijuana Program (MMP) in December 2018.
More marijuana plants are finally growing in the Garden State, as one of the six new medicinal dispensaries obtained its permit to grow the plant this week.
The state Department of Health announced that Green Thumb Industries (GTI) in Paterson has passed several site inspections and background checks, as well as reviews of its security operations and cultivation facility.
“We’re very pleased to be the first ones,” said Devra Karlebach, the CEO of GTI New Jersey. “We are very honored and humbled that we were awarded a license initially."
Acreage Holdings, the politically connected cannabis behemoth, is buying a South Jersey medical marijuana cultivator and retailer.
The arrangement will formalize a two-year relationship between the New York-based Acreage and Compassionate Care Foundation (CCF) of Egg Harbor.
Last year, Acreage bought a 135,000-square-foot former orchid greenhouse in Sewell to convert it into the largest weed cultivation facility on the East Coast.
Acreage Holdings, Inc. (“Acreage”) (CSE: ACRG.U) (OTC: ACRGF) is buying New Jersey’s Compassionate Care Foundation, Inc. which is a vertically integrated cannabis nonprofit corporation. The deal is subject to state approval and the amount of the deal was not disclosed. However, the state of New Jersey did state that Compassionate Care reported $4.9 million in revenue in 2018, badly trailing Curaleaf’s $19 million in revenue for 2018.
A company seeking to open a marijuana cultivation facility and a dispensary in the city faced opposition from South Paterson residents at a townhall meeting on Wednesday night.
Dozens of people packed the cafeteria at the Board of Education to hear from both municipal and GTI New Jersey officials about the proposed facilities. Majority of the attendees spoke out against having a facility in their neighborhood.
“I’m afraid if my kids grow up in the city, where there is a weed dispensary, they are going to get their hands on it,” said Sanan Ramadan.