Source: NJ.com
New Jersey’s busiest medical marijuana doctor was evicted Friday from buildings in Neptune and Woodbridge, about two weeks after the same landlord canceled the lease on his main office in Hudson County.
Dr. Anthony Anzalone said his Texas-based property management company Regus objected to his affiliation with the New Jersey’s medical marijuana program. Regus, which leases office space across the globe, had rented him office space in East Rutherford for 2-1/2 years until the end of March, when a manager informed him his work violated company policy.
“I was told they don’t want to be involved with medical marijuana,” the doctor said. “I told them no medication has ever been dispensed here — I just consult.” Dr. Anzalone uses the website domain drMarijuanaNJ.com and billboards identifying him as “NJ Green MD.”
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State law limits the sale of marijuana for medicinal purposes to the five dispensaries that currently grow and distribute the substance.
Regus’ actions are “despicable” and “disrespectful” of his patients, Anzalone said. “All I am doing as a physician is what the state says I am allowed to do.”
With 700 referrals, Anzalone said he believes he has helped more patients join the program than any other physician. He is a graduate of a Mexican medical school and has been a licensed physician in New Jersey since 1983. He ran a gynecology practice before registering with the medicinal marijuana program nearly four years ago.
Doctors who register with the program refer a patient by attesting that he or she has one of the qualifying medical conditions, according to the law. Doctors must also be able to prove they have a “bona fide” treating relationship with the patient.
Dr. Anzalone has no malpractice claims of disciplinary actions on his record, according to the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners, the licensing and disciplinary agency for doctors.
Anzalone said he is looking for new office locations in Woodbridge and Neptune, and has begun seeing patients at the Meadowlands Hilton in East Rutherford. He also said he has hired a lawyer and is weighing his legal options.