Some licenses were denied because of technical errors. Bauchner challenged the decision in court, arguing the applications should be issued based on merit.
In December, the court granted a stay in the 2019 application process for new medical marijuana businesses. That led to the appeals process and the delay in awarding licenses.
The state health department, however, believed it did not need to stop scoring applications that had passed an initial review. The court told the department it had misinterpreted its order.
TerrAscend Corp. (CSE: TER; OTCQX: TRSSF) (“TerrAscend” or “the Company”), the first and only global cannabis company licensed for sales in Canada, the U.S., and the EU, today announced that TerrAscend NJ, LLC (“TerrAscend NJ”) has been issued a permit to cultivate medical marijuana by the New Jersey Department of Health (“NJ DOH”). TerrAscend NJ is the second entity to receive its cultivation permit among the six applicants chosen by the NJ DOH in December 2018. Cultivation operations will commence immediately at its facility in Boonton Township, located in northern New Jersey.
But a two-judge appellate court panel made it clear the state must cease all action on the licenses as several applicants rejected for a technical issue appeal the decision.
That means those who applied for a medical pot license last summer will have to keep waiting.
Two judges clarified a court-ordered stay on New Jersey’s medical cannabis business application review process to apply to all administrative proceedings related to alternative treatment center permits, including the scoring of applications and the ranking and awarding permits.
The New Jersey Department of Health hadn’t halted application review, said Ansell Grimm & Aaron PC Partner Joshua Bauchner, who represents seven applicants whose submissions were rejected before being reviewed due to a technical issue.
In a recent guest column published in NJ Cannabis Insider, Jackie Cornell a former principal deputy commissioner at the state Department of Health, shared her insight on what she sees as priorities for cannabis in 2020.
Cornell, who joined Colorado-based cannabis edibles company 1906 as its chief of policy & health innovations, will be among the featured speakers at NJ Cannabis Insider’s nearly sold-out networking event in Red Bank this Wednesday.
The planned expansion of New Jersey’s medical marijuana sector could be delayed after the state Department of Health hit a legal snag.
Earlier this year the Garden State announced it would issue 108 extra licenses to cannabis businesses, comprising 54 dispensary licenses, 30 processing permits, and 24 cultivation licenses. It received 190 applications for those 24 cultivation licenses and it disqualified 51 of them for reasons ranging from corrupted files to lack of local approval, lack of site control and the non-payment of fees.
Mike McQueeny, chair of Cannabis Practice Group at Genova Burns, explains why it is taking so long for New Jersey to launch medical marijuana businesses.
A lawsuit by 25 New Jersey medical cannabis business applicants has forced regulators to halt its application review for the expansion of the state’s medical cannabis program, according to an NJ.com report. The expansion bill was signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy (D) in July after lawmakers failed to pass comprehensive recreational legalization reforms.
Five applicants denied last month for medical marijuana business licenses because state officials couldn’t open files in their applications could get a second shot if a state appeals court rules in their favor.
But such a ruling could delay an expansion of the state’s strained medical marijuana program.
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."