Inside the warehouse of Compassionate Care Foundation near Delilah Road, a 20-foot white shipping container sat to the left of a large, square room made of tarp-like material taking up most of the cavernous space.
While orange light peeked out from the seams of the main grow room, bright white lights illuminated the inside of the smaller container, providing artificial sunlight to 580 cannabis plants that formed two leafy green walls in the super compact vertical cultivation space.
Recognizing that informed consumers are vital to a healthy marketplace, the New Jersey Department of Health is allowing the six permitted Alternative Treatment Centers (ATCs) to publicly list medical marijuana prices on their websites and social media accounts.
Jersey Shore Therapeutic Health Care is seeking to convert the former OceanFirst Bank into a dispensary and erect a 40,000-square-foot steel building to be used as a grow facility for the medical marijuana it would dispense.
The application is part of the company's efforts to get a license to operate a dispensary under New Jersey's medical marijuana program. There are currently six dispensaries operating in New Jersey; in July Gov. Phil Murphy said the state would offer six more licenses to expand access for medical marijuana patients.
A medical marijuana facility to be located on Route 22 in Union was unanimously approved by the Planning Board at a recent meeting.
Compassionate Care Research Institute, LLC, doing business as Garden State Dispensary, will be located at 2536 Route 22 East. According to testimony at the Planning Board meeting, Compassionate Care’s Woodbridge site is currently one of only six alternative treatment centers licensed by the State of New Jersey to dispense medical marijuana to patients.
With State Senate President Stephen Sweeney setting Oct. 29 for the state Senate to vote on legalizing recreational marijuana, it seems New Jersey is closer to becoming the next state where cannabis is legal.
Meanwhile, the Garden State has the chance to change the landscape of medical marijuana -- taking lessons from the success and failures of states out west -- and is on the verge of creating one of the most comprehensive, deliberate, and successful programs in the nation.
This effort should proceed without delay.
The township council will hear a proposal on Oct. 16 for a medical marijuana facility to operate just down the street from its municipal complex and police station.
Parea BioSciences of New Jersey, Inc., wants to build a 137,000-square-foot facility on a 25-acre parcel on Barker Avenue, near Route 130.
The state Department of Health is reviewing 51 applications for two more alternative treatment centers in South Jersey. The department expects to approve six new licenses in November.
Since federal regulators began reinterpreting the United States’ position on marijuana in 2014, the number of state-sanctioned marijuana-related businesses (MRBs) has exploded, leaving MRBs with an abundance of cash, but not many places to deposit it. The New Jersey Department of Health approved six alternative treatment centers (ATCs), which pro-vide qualifying patients with medicinal marijuana and related paraphernalia. These ATCs are a type of MRB. On July 16 of this year, the department released a request for applications (RFA) for up to six additional ATCs.
Now that the borough has indicated it is open to welcoming medical marijuana facilities under the New Jersey Compassionate Use Marijuana Act, borough officials are thinking about where they could potentially be located, if approved by the state.
At the council’s Aug. 29 workshop meeting, the mayor and governing body talked with director of planning and zoning Glenn R. Carter to determine what areas would be appropriate for a dispensary.
The ordinance would amend the town’s zoning code to prohibit selling, growing, and distributing recreational marijuana. It would not impact medical marijuana, legal in the state since 2010, nor would it impede on recreational marijuana use, should the New Jersey state legislature legalize it. Secaucus currently has one medical marijuana dispensary.
50 applicants applied for New Jersey’s northern region, 45 in the central region and 51 in the southern.
“By expanding Alternative Treatment Center locations in New Jersey, we are putting patients first and ensuring more convenient access to medical marijuana,” said Governor Phil Murphy. “This is another step forward in removing barriers put in place by the previous administration and creating a more consumer-friendly program.”