Medical marijuana is expanding quickly in N.J. — and here’s the newest dispensary
New Jersey’s newest medical marijuana dispensary opened Wednesday, the first facility added as part of the governor’s massive medical marijuana expansion plan.
Located in Bellmawr, the dispensary — formerly known as Compassionate Sciences — opened a retail location across the street from the existing location, which will become the dispensary’s cultivation facility. Compassionate Sciences will now be called Curaleaf, named after the company that now owns it.
“Our expansion into a larger dispensary mirrors not only Curaleaf’s growth but also the progression of medical marijuana access within the state,” said George Schidlovsky, Curaleaf New Jersey’s president, in a statement. He added that the new location will allow the dispensary to serve more patients than it currently serves. (Curaleaf operates dispensaries in a number of other states.)
This is the first dispensary to open a new location since Gov. Phil Murphy revealed his plan to massively expand New Jersey’s medical marijuana program, a plan that added several common medical conditions to the program.
Earlier this month, state Health Commissioner Dr. Shereef Elnahal said Jersey’s medical marijuana program was registering more than 100 people every day. Since Murphy took office, a total of 4,200 patients have been added, taking the total number of patients to more than 20,000.