Source: NJ Dept. Of Health
The New Jersey Department of Health (DOH) today announced that six businesses have been selected to apply for permits to open new medical marijuana dispensaries. Two applicants each were chosen for the north, central and southern parts of the state, ensuring patients have better access to pain-relieving medicine:
Columbia Care New Jersey – Vineland
GTI New Jersey, LLC – Paterson
Justice Grown – Ewing
MPX New Jersey – Atlantic City (Dispensary), Galloway (Cultivation)
NETA NJ, LLC – Phillipsburg
Verano NJ LLC – Elizabeth (Dispensary), Rahway (Cultivation Site)
Before receiving approval to grow medical marijuana, the chosen applicants now 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.
The 146 applications were reviewed by a six-person committee consisting of four DOH representatives and one each from the Departments of Agriculture and Treasury. Their expertise included medical marijuana, ATC regulation, lab testing, plant science, diversity and procurement. Prior to scoring the applications, committee members received implicit bias training from the state’s Chief Diversity Officer to ensure an impartial selection process.
Today’s announcement is part of a series of program reforms including the addition of five new medical conditions (anxiety, migraines, two forms of chronic pain and Tourette’s Syndrome), allowing ATCs to post prices, and shortening the review time of patient information for ID cards to between one and two days, down from 28 six months ago. The program also added mobile access to the patient registry.
There are now 38,000 patients participating, an expansion of more than 20,000 patients since Governor Phil Murphy took office. In addition, there are 1,530 caregivers participating in the program.
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 to encourage them to consider marijuana as another appropriate treatment for patients with many medical conditions, especially diseases for which conventional therapies aren’t working. More than 2,000 physicians, students and other clinicians attended the lectures.