N.J. Welcomes 30 New Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
New Jersey regulators Tuesday approved 30 new licenses to companies who will sell medicinal marijuana, more than doubling the number of retail locations for a growing pool of patients who for years complained about long commutes to obtain legal cannabis.
Tuesday night’s announcement is essentially part two of the medicinal marijuana program’s long-awaited expansion, first proposed in 2019 but delayed by legal challenges.
In October, the commission awarded permits to 14 growers who had applied for a license in 2019. In recognition of the program’s stifled growth and delays, the Commission’s Executive Director Jeff Brown recommended doubling the number of cultivators.
On Tuesday night, Brown once again recommended awarding 30 licenses instead of the 15 dispensaries the state advertised for two years ago.
There are now 23 dispensaries serving an average of about 5,300 patients per retail site and 121,100 registered patients statewide. Patients have long complained the program’s small scale requires them to drive hours, only to find their favorite strain of cannabis gone.
There are about 5,000 patients enrolling every month — a pace that has not abated even with the prospect of a legal market for adult users opening in 2022, Brown said.
What troubles him is that about 2,000 to 2,700 patients leave the program. “The price of cannabis is still high and the number of patients per dispensary is still high,” Brown said.
“We have an opportunity to get this program in line,” he said.
Even with doubling the number of dispensary application awards, New Jersey is still falling behind, according to an analysis by the commission. Using the guide that dispensaries should serve about 2,000 people, the state should have 61 by now and 77 by October 2022, if the enrollment keeps up the same pace.
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