Jacob Redmond
Well-Known Member
Want to open a medical marijuana dispensary?
You'll need to raise millions of dollars and disclose where the money came from. You'll need to come clean on your criminal history. You'll need to let regulators know if you filed for bankruptcy or testified in court or were ever asked to take a polygraph test. And you'll need patience. Lots of patience.
"It's a difficult process," said Andrew Zaleski, operations manager and trustee for Breakwater Treatment & Wellness in Cranbury.
Breakwater opened last month, becoming the fifth medical marijuana dispensary in New Jersey, and one of the closest to residents in Monmouth and Ocean counties. It sells four strains – with a fifth on the way – to patients suffering from one of a handful of debilitating illnesses.
For Zaleski, the opening marked a milestone in a six-year journey that has seen him go from a corporate America castoff to an entrepreneur who could be on the cutting edge.
Split Opinions
At this point, his business could go either way. When Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray asked New Jerseyans in April 2014 if they supported legalizing marijuana, he found they were nearly evenly split.
Elected officials have mirrored the public. In March, Gov.Chris Christie, now running for president, said he considered marijuana a gateway drug and the tax revenue raised by the sale of recreational marijuana the equivalent of blood money. In June, Asbury Park's city council in a vote made it clear it thought the state should legalize the drug.
Breakwater's opening comes nearly six years after former Gov. Jon Corzine signed the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act. The law allowed residents to buy up to two ounces of marijuana a month to treat one of nearly a dozen conditions. Among them: multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, cancer, seizures and glaucoma.
New Jersey is one of 23 states that have legalized medical marijuana. Four more states – Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington – legalized recreational marijuana.
Despite its legal status, the industry is heavily regulated in the Garden State. Residents need to fill out extensive forms and pay $200 to register with the state. They need a recommendation from a physician who also has registered with the state. And they need to buy from one of six dispensaries, called Alternative Treatment Centers – two in the north, two central and two in the south.
Closest to Monmouth and Ocean are: Breakwater in Cranbury, Garden State Dispensary in Woodbridge, and Compassionate Care Foundation in Egg Harbor Township.
Some 5,500 patients and caregivers have received a permit from the state, and 350 physicians are enrolled in the program, according to the New Jersey Department of Health.
Local Doctors Participate
Dr. Amos Katz, a neurologist at the Linda E. Cardinale MS Center at CentraState Healthcare System in Freehold Township, is one of more than 60 Shore-area doctors who participate. His patients have multiple sclerosis, a disease that affects the central nervous system and can damage the brain and spinal cord.
He said he had found marijuana can help with pain, tremors and muscle spasms that the disease can cause. It's an option in case the drugs he typically prescribes to prevent the disease from progressing either don't work or cause intolerable side-effects, he said.
"We give it to patients who deserve it," Katz said. "Not everybody; about 5 percent qualify. But it does work."
Breakwater opened Oct. 15 in the corner of an industrial warehouse on Corporate Drive. Visitors who didn't know better could mistake it for a smoothie place with a menu that's spelled out on chalkboards on the wall behind the counter: There's Blueberry, Cannatonic, AK-47 and Durban Poison, A fifth strain, Bubble Gum, is in the works.
Breakwater claims to have the state's lowest prices. It touts discounts to veterans and people on public assistance. And it sells supplies like water pipes and vaporizers, but no edibles.
The business has a staff of 12 full-time and 20 part-time employees, including health coaches who look like they work at the Apple Genius bar.
They believe the message: Marijuana offers relief for patients with debilitating pain and illnesses without side-effects that can come with prescription drugs, Zaleski said.
Relief For Patients
Harold Cardini, 59, of Barnegat, stopped in on a recent fall day and bought two ounces of Blueberry to treat a digestion problem that he had been battling for 20 years.
Originally from New Jersey, Caridini moved to Florida 12 years ago and saw how marijuana helped. He decided to move back to New Jersey in part so he could take the drug legally. Since then, his regimen has changed from a list of drugs that ran three pages long to one drug and marijuana, he said.
The relief comes at a steep price. He said he pays more than $1,100 for a month's supply. It isn't covered by health insurance, but Breakwater officials say customers can deduct it on their taxes as a medical expense.
"It’s been difficult, it’s been expensive," Cardini said. "But it works, so you have to do what you have to do."
Zaleski, 30, of Jersey City, said he was sold on the benefits of marijuana after seeing it ease the pain of a friend of his father's who had ALS, often called Lou Gehrig's disease.
Originally from Long Island, Zaleski worked in the commercial real estate industry until he was laid off in 2009, shortly after the housing bubble collapsed. He decided he'd had enough of corporate America and wanted to set out on his own. And he quickly turned to the marijuana industry, which was gaining traction in its quest to become a legal drug.
Zaleski teamed up with a friend, Joe Bender, who majored in horticulture science at the University of Florida. He named the business Breakwater in reference to a barrier that creates a safe harbor. He traveled to conferences to learn the business. He raised money from investors, including his father. And he contacted landlords and town officials, searching for a home.
Towns Were Reluctant
He approached dozens of towns: Jackson, Plumsted, Upper Freehold to name a few. But he ran into obstacles. Towns, for example, worried the facility would attract trouble.
"We’ve met ... with everybody you could possibly meet in a town, and you think you have it, like they want this," Zaleski said. "And then all of a sudden you spend three, four months shaking hands and doing the right thing and somebody doesn’t want to build it."
Eventually, he found a 20,000-square-foot building in Cranbury – and a landlord who welcomed him. And the town gave the go-ahead. Administrator Denise Marabello said she and other township officials toured the facility and came away satisfied with its security.
"As long as they are compliant with all the planning and zoning ordinances within our township, there’s no way we could stop a business like that from coming into Cranbury," Marabello said.
Zaleski has seen both praise and scorn – two sides of the emotional spectrum that aren't likely to fade any time soon. He thinks his product could help more people whose illnesses aren't included on the state's list, post-traumatic stress disorder among them.
But it's been six years since Zaleski started. He sounds content just to be open.
"We’re just a regular business that’s what we want to do," he said. "Be treated like a regular business and do the right thing and have a place to provide the medicine that people need."
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: New Jersey Tiptoes Into Medical Marijuana
Author: Michael L. Diamond
Contact: Contact Page
Photo Credit: Matthew Staver/Bloomberg
Website: Daily Record
You'll need to raise millions of dollars and disclose where the money came from. You'll need to come clean on your criminal history. You'll need to let regulators know if you filed for bankruptcy or testified in court or were ever asked to take a polygraph test. And you'll need patience. Lots of patience.
"It's a difficult process," said Andrew Zaleski, operations manager and trustee for Breakwater Treatment & Wellness in Cranbury.
Breakwater opened last month, becoming the fifth medical marijuana dispensary in New Jersey, and one of the closest to residents in Monmouth and Ocean counties. It sells four strains – with a fifth on the way – to patients suffering from one of a handful of debilitating illnesses.
For Zaleski, the opening marked a milestone in a six-year journey that has seen him go from a corporate America castoff to an entrepreneur who could be on the cutting edge.
Split Opinions
At this point, his business could go either way. When Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray asked New Jerseyans in April 2014 if they supported legalizing marijuana, he found they were nearly evenly split.
Elected officials have mirrored the public. In March, Gov.Chris Christie, now running for president, said he considered marijuana a gateway drug and the tax revenue raised by the sale of recreational marijuana the equivalent of blood money. In June, Asbury Park's city council in a vote made it clear it thought the state should legalize the drug.
Breakwater's opening comes nearly six years after former Gov. Jon Corzine signed the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act. The law allowed residents to buy up to two ounces of marijuana a month to treat one of nearly a dozen conditions. Among them: multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, cancer, seizures and glaucoma.
New Jersey is one of 23 states that have legalized medical marijuana. Four more states – Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington – legalized recreational marijuana.
Despite its legal status, the industry is heavily regulated in the Garden State. Residents need to fill out extensive forms and pay $200 to register with the state. They need a recommendation from a physician who also has registered with the state. And they need to buy from one of six dispensaries, called Alternative Treatment Centers – two in the north, two central and two in the south.
Closest to Monmouth and Ocean are: Breakwater in Cranbury, Garden State Dispensary in Woodbridge, and Compassionate Care Foundation in Egg Harbor Township.
Some 5,500 patients and caregivers have received a permit from the state, and 350 physicians are enrolled in the program, according to the New Jersey Department of Health.
Local Doctors Participate
Dr. Amos Katz, a neurologist at the Linda E. Cardinale MS Center at CentraState Healthcare System in Freehold Township, is one of more than 60 Shore-area doctors who participate. His patients have multiple sclerosis, a disease that affects the central nervous system and can damage the brain and spinal cord.
He said he had found marijuana can help with pain, tremors and muscle spasms that the disease can cause. It's an option in case the drugs he typically prescribes to prevent the disease from progressing either don't work or cause intolerable side-effects, he said.
"We give it to patients who deserve it," Katz said. "Not everybody; about 5 percent qualify. But it does work."
Breakwater opened Oct. 15 in the corner of an industrial warehouse on Corporate Drive. Visitors who didn't know better could mistake it for a smoothie place with a menu that's spelled out on chalkboards on the wall behind the counter: There's Blueberry, Cannatonic, AK-47 and Durban Poison, A fifth strain, Bubble Gum, is in the works.
Breakwater claims to have the state's lowest prices. It touts discounts to veterans and people on public assistance. And it sells supplies like water pipes and vaporizers, but no edibles.
The business has a staff of 12 full-time and 20 part-time employees, including health coaches who look like they work at the Apple Genius bar.
They believe the message: Marijuana offers relief for patients with debilitating pain and illnesses without side-effects that can come with prescription drugs, Zaleski said.
Relief For Patients
Harold Cardini, 59, of Barnegat, stopped in on a recent fall day and bought two ounces of Blueberry to treat a digestion problem that he had been battling for 20 years.
Originally from New Jersey, Caridini moved to Florida 12 years ago and saw how marijuana helped. He decided to move back to New Jersey in part so he could take the drug legally. Since then, his regimen has changed from a list of drugs that ran three pages long to one drug and marijuana, he said.
The relief comes at a steep price. He said he pays more than $1,100 for a month's supply. It isn't covered by health insurance, but Breakwater officials say customers can deduct it on their taxes as a medical expense.
"It’s been difficult, it’s been expensive," Cardini said. "But it works, so you have to do what you have to do."
Zaleski, 30, of Jersey City, said he was sold on the benefits of marijuana after seeing it ease the pain of a friend of his father's who had ALS, often called Lou Gehrig's disease.
Originally from Long Island, Zaleski worked in the commercial real estate industry until he was laid off in 2009, shortly after the housing bubble collapsed. He decided he'd had enough of corporate America and wanted to set out on his own. And he quickly turned to the marijuana industry, which was gaining traction in its quest to become a legal drug.
Zaleski teamed up with a friend, Joe Bender, who majored in horticulture science at the University of Florida. He named the business Breakwater in reference to a barrier that creates a safe harbor. He traveled to conferences to learn the business. He raised money from investors, including his father. And he contacted landlords and town officials, searching for a home.
Towns Were Reluctant
He approached dozens of towns: Jackson, Plumsted, Upper Freehold to name a few. But he ran into obstacles. Towns, for example, worried the facility would attract trouble.
"We’ve met ... with everybody you could possibly meet in a town, and you think you have it, like they want this," Zaleski said. "And then all of a sudden you spend three, four months shaking hands and doing the right thing and somebody doesn’t want to build it."
Eventually, he found a 20,000-square-foot building in Cranbury – and a landlord who welcomed him. And the town gave the go-ahead. Administrator Denise Marabello said she and other township officials toured the facility and came away satisfied with its security.
"As long as they are compliant with all the planning and zoning ordinances within our township, there’s no way we could stop a business like that from coming into Cranbury," Marabello said.
Zaleski has seen both praise and scorn – two sides of the emotional spectrum that aren't likely to fade any time soon. He thinks his product could help more people whose illnesses aren't included on the state's list, post-traumatic stress disorder among them.
But it's been six years since Zaleski started. He sounds content just to be open.
"We’re just a regular business that’s what we want to do," he said. "Be treated like a regular business and do the right thing and have a place to provide the medicine that people need."
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: New Jersey Tiptoes Into Medical Marijuana
Author: Michael L. Diamond
Contact: Contact Page
Photo Credit: Matthew Staver/Bloomberg
Website: Daily Record
