Jacob Bell
New Member
A legal marijuana dispensary could open in South Jersey as soon as December if everything goes as planned for Compassionate Care Foundation Inc., one of the state's six licensed cannabis distributors.
Planning for a growing operation and dispensary can resume now that Gov. Christie finally gave the go-ahead to the state's medical-marijuana program, said the group's chief executive officer, William Thomas.
On Tuesday, Christie directed the state health department to move forward after he put the initiative on hold in April.
The department in March approved Compassionate Care and Compassionate Sciences Inc. to distribute medicinal cannabis in South Jersey.
Compassionate Sciences may need up to nine months to set up shop, spokesman Andrei Bogolubov said.
Both organizations confirmed last week that Burlington and Camden Counties were their target locations, but neither would reveal details about sites. Thomas said he wanted to meet with public officials and community members before moving forward.
"We got in trouble before by getting ahead of the politicians," he said. "We want to respect them and make sure everyone's aware before we make an announcement."
Compassionate Care filed a permit application with the state Department of Health and Senior Services in February, listing an industrial complex in Bellmawr as its site for growing.
In the application, the group said it wanted its dispensary in the same town.
Bogolubov declined to provide details about the type of site that Compassionate Sciences was looking for, and the group didn't specify locations on its permit application.
At peak capacity, Compassionate Care plans to produce about 10,000 ounces of cannabis per month, enough to serve 5,000 patients, Thomas said.
It wants to secure a 50,000-square-foot warehouse for cultivation.
The group estimates that 500,000 people in New Jersey qualify to use medicinal marijuana under the state's guidelines, which permit use by the terminally ill and people suffering from diseases including cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, AIDS, muscular dystrophy, and Crohn's disease.
Thomas said his group anticipated serving about 1 percent of that population.
"We're trying to be conservative in our estimates," he said. "It's not a medicine that everyone may care to use."
Compassionate Care and Compassionate Sciences halted their start-up plans during the last several months while Christie sought assurances that licensed growers would not face federal prosecution. New Jersey Attorney General Paula Dow wrote to U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman seeking clarification on how federal law enforcement officials would deal with the New Jersey program.
The Justice Department offered no assurances. Instead, U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole issued a policy memo in late June saying everyone from licensed growers to regulators could be subject to criminal prosecution.
However, he also noted that the agency did not view prosecuting patients as an efficient use of resources.
New Jersey is one of 16 states that permit the cultivation, sale, and use of medical marijuana.
The others are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
Christie agreed to allow New Jersey's program to proceed more than 18 months after his predecessor signed the legislation to create it.
Christie, a former U.S. attorney, said he didn't believe the Justice Department would prosecute New Jersey dispensaries "given the narrow and medically based nature of our program."
Supporters call New Jersey's program the toughest in the nation because it serves a narrow group of patients, prohibits people from growing cannabis for personal use, requires criminal background checks for caretakers who pick up marijuana on behalf of severely ill patients, and limits the number of dispensaries to six - two apiece for its northern, central, and southern regions.
"It's the most restrictive major program out there, and it has an opportunity to set a national standard," Bogolubov said.
Opponents of the program fear a gradual relaxation of the rules.
Steve Demofonte, a legislative liaison of the New Jersey Fraternal Order of Police, said advocates were chipping away until the state allowed profit-making for sellers, a broader group of qualified users, or even outright legalization of marijuana and other substances.
The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey has already called on politicians to change the regulations, saying they are inconsistent with legislation passed in 2010 to create the program.
The group's executive director, Ken Wolski, takes issue with health department guidelines that require patients and doctors to register, and with the limits on THC - the psychoactive substance in cannabis.
"They're treating the alternative treatment centers more strictly than they deal with pharmacies, which sell much more dangerous drugs," he said.
Police groups are concerned that legalized cannabis operations will attract peripheral crimes, such as break-ins of growing facilities and robberies of patients carrying money and drugs.
"We're looking at an entirely new type of environment where we can expect a rise in crime," Demofonte said.
Bellmawr Mayor Frank Filipek said he would accept a medical-marijuana facility in town so long as the operators addressed concerns from residents and law enforcement.
"I had some problems with it until someone explained how they'd run it and how it was going to help sick people," he said.
Thomas predicted that Compassionate Care would provide 140 jobs in its host community.
News Hawk- Jacob Ebel 420 MAGAZINE
Source: philly.com
Author: Joshua Adam Hicks
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: Philadelphia Media Network, Inc.
Website: Marijuana site in '11 is possible
Planning for a growing operation and dispensary can resume now that Gov. Christie finally gave the go-ahead to the state's medical-marijuana program, said the group's chief executive officer, William Thomas.
On Tuesday, Christie directed the state health department to move forward after he put the initiative on hold in April.
The department in March approved Compassionate Care and Compassionate Sciences Inc. to distribute medicinal cannabis in South Jersey.
Compassionate Sciences may need up to nine months to set up shop, spokesman Andrei Bogolubov said.
Both organizations confirmed last week that Burlington and Camden Counties were their target locations, but neither would reveal details about sites. Thomas said he wanted to meet with public officials and community members before moving forward.
"We got in trouble before by getting ahead of the politicians," he said. "We want to respect them and make sure everyone's aware before we make an announcement."
Compassionate Care filed a permit application with the state Department of Health and Senior Services in February, listing an industrial complex in Bellmawr as its site for growing.
In the application, the group said it wanted its dispensary in the same town.
Bogolubov declined to provide details about the type of site that Compassionate Sciences was looking for, and the group didn't specify locations on its permit application.
At peak capacity, Compassionate Care plans to produce about 10,000 ounces of cannabis per month, enough to serve 5,000 patients, Thomas said.
It wants to secure a 50,000-square-foot warehouse for cultivation.
The group estimates that 500,000 people in New Jersey qualify to use medicinal marijuana under the state's guidelines, which permit use by the terminally ill and people suffering from diseases including cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, AIDS, muscular dystrophy, and Crohn's disease.
Thomas said his group anticipated serving about 1 percent of that population.
"We're trying to be conservative in our estimates," he said. "It's not a medicine that everyone may care to use."
Compassionate Care and Compassionate Sciences halted their start-up plans during the last several months while Christie sought assurances that licensed growers would not face federal prosecution. New Jersey Attorney General Paula Dow wrote to U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman seeking clarification on how federal law enforcement officials would deal with the New Jersey program.
The Justice Department offered no assurances. Instead, U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole issued a policy memo in late June saying everyone from licensed growers to regulators could be subject to criminal prosecution.
However, he also noted that the agency did not view prosecuting patients as an efficient use of resources.
New Jersey is one of 16 states that permit the cultivation, sale, and use of medical marijuana.
The others are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
Christie agreed to allow New Jersey's program to proceed more than 18 months after his predecessor signed the legislation to create it.
Christie, a former U.S. attorney, said he didn't believe the Justice Department would prosecute New Jersey dispensaries "given the narrow and medically based nature of our program."
Supporters call New Jersey's program the toughest in the nation because it serves a narrow group of patients, prohibits people from growing cannabis for personal use, requires criminal background checks for caretakers who pick up marijuana on behalf of severely ill patients, and limits the number of dispensaries to six - two apiece for its northern, central, and southern regions.
"It's the most restrictive major program out there, and it has an opportunity to set a national standard," Bogolubov said.
Opponents of the program fear a gradual relaxation of the rules.
Steve Demofonte, a legislative liaison of the New Jersey Fraternal Order of Police, said advocates were chipping away until the state allowed profit-making for sellers, a broader group of qualified users, or even outright legalization of marijuana and other substances.
The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey has already called on politicians to change the regulations, saying they are inconsistent with legislation passed in 2010 to create the program.
The group's executive director, Ken Wolski, takes issue with health department guidelines that require patients and doctors to register, and with the limits on THC - the psychoactive substance in cannabis.
"They're treating the alternative treatment centers more strictly than they deal with pharmacies, which sell much more dangerous drugs," he said.
Police groups are concerned that legalized cannabis operations will attract peripheral crimes, such as break-ins of growing facilities and robberies of patients carrying money and drugs.
"We're looking at an entirely new type of environment where we can expect a rise in crime," Demofonte said.
Bellmawr Mayor Frank Filipek said he would accept a medical-marijuana facility in town so long as the operators addressed concerns from residents and law enforcement.
"I had some problems with it until someone explained how they'd run it and how it was going to help sick people," he said.
Thomas predicted that Compassionate Care would provide 140 jobs in its host community.
News Hawk- Jacob Ebel 420 MAGAZINE
Source: philly.com
Author: Joshua Adam Hicks
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: Philadelphia Media Network, Inc.
Website: Marijuana site in '11 is possible
