NJ Names 6 Towns Up For New Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

The Garden State is about to get a little greener.

On Monday, New Jersey Department of Health officials announced their long-awaited choices for the six businesses that will be invited to open new medical marijuana dispensaries in the state. The dispensaries would be located in Phillipsburg, Paterson, Elizabeth, Ewing, Atlantic City and Vineland. (Read the full decision letters here)

A six-person committee made up of four DOH representatives and one each from the Departments of Agriculture and Treasury reviewed a whopping 146 applications before choosing the finalists, officials said.

Each business is applying to open facilities in the following towns:

• NETA NJ, LLC – Phillipsburg
• GTI New Jersey, LLC – Paterson
• Verano NJ LLC – Elizabeth (dispensary), Rahway (cultivation site)
• Justice Grown – Ewing
• MPX New Jersey – Atlantic City (dispensary), Galloway (cultivation site)
• Columbia Care New Jersey – Vineland

According to DOH officials, the six proposed dispensary sites are split according to region: north, central and south.

“Six very strong applicants were selected, including minority-owned and women-owned businesses,” Health Commissioner Shereef Elnahal said. “We’ll meet with them early next year to refine their timetable for growing product and opening their doors.”

There are still a few hurdles left before final approval is granted, officials said. The chosen applicants must pass background checks, provide evidence of a dispensary location and municipal approval, and “comply with all regulations under the Division of Medical Marijuana, including safety and security requirements.”

DOH officials said they plan to make all 146 applications available for public review on the agency’s webpage “next year.”

There are currently six dispensaries – or “alternative treatment centers” – approved to distribute medical marijuana in New Jersey: Greenleaf Compassion Center in Montclair, Compassionate Care Foundation in Egg Harbor, Garden State Dispensary in Woodbridge, Breakwater ATC in Cranbury, Compassionate Science ATC in Bellmawr, and Harmony Foundation in Secaucus.

New Jersey medical marijuana and cannabis advocates have been pushing for years to expand the list of qualifying conditions in a state that has been widely criticized for a lack of dispensary locations, as well as shortages of marijuana and doctors willing to prescribe it.

• See related article: New Jersey Activists Fight To Expand Medical Marijuana Program
• See related article: Is There A Medical Marijuana Doctor Shortage In New Jersey?

DOH officials said that Monday’s announcement is part of a recent “series of program reforms” to the state’s medical marijuana policies, including:

• The addition of five new medical conditions (anxiety, migraines, two forms of chronic pain and Tourette’s Syndrome)
• Allowing ATCs to post prices
• Shortening the review time of patient information for ID cards to between one and two days, down from 28 six months ago
• Adding mobile access to the patient registry

“We are committed to an equitable expansion of supply to meet growing patient demand,” Elnahal said. “These new locations will reach patients that currently have to travel longer distances to obtain the therapy.”

DOH officials said there are now 38,000 patients participating in the state’s medical marijuana program, an expansion of more than 20,000 people since Governor Phil Murphy took office. In addition, there are 1,530 caregivers participating in the program, and more than 350 physicians have been added to the program — for a total of 860 — including 200 who have joined since Commissioner Elnahal began a series of lectures among the medical community in hospitals and teaching schools.

Officials said that more than 2,000 physicians, students and other clinicians attended the lectures, which were held at Hackensack University Medical Center, St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Virtua Health and Hunterdon Medical Center.

Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site here. Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com

File Photo: Harmony Foundation in Secaucus (Carly Baldwin, Patch staff)