The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (NJCRC) recently announced the opening of Design 710 and NJ Leaf as the 34th and 35th New Jersey medical dispensaries in Atlantic City in South Jersey and Freehold in Central Jersey.
Design 710 had its soft opening in Atlantic City, while NJ Leaf opened in Freehold Borough in Monmouth County.
Both had “soft openings” where they started selling to cannabis patients without the great fanfare of a ribbon-cutting grand opening.
Design 710 in Atlantic City
Design 710 is the third medical cannabis dispensary to open in Atlantic City itself. The Botanist opened first, followed by the iAnthus-owned MPX NJ. Atlantic City plans to be a cannabis hotspot to boost its tourism industry. The name “710” might be a play on the new 4/20-like holiday of Oil Day on July 10th since “710” looks like “OIL” upside down on a calculator.
NJ Leaf in Monmouth County
On their website, NJ Leaf claims to be women, minority, and locally owned but does not go into details.
NJ Leaf won permission to open in Freehold Borough last June. They are only the third medical cannabis dispensary to open in Monmouth County after the Neptune Township satellite of Verano Zen Leaf and Ayr (formerly GSD) in Eatontown.
It’s noteworthy since, due to politics, there are no medical cannabis dispensaries open yet in Ocean County between Monmouth and Atlantic City Atlantic County.
The NJCRC has previously released data that thousands of patients live in Ocean County.
Design 710 and NJ Leaf were licensed in the 2019-2021 medical cannabis lottery. NJ Leaf won a license as Monmouth Wellness and Health. Twenty-nine months went by between when companies made a mad dash to apply and when they won. During that time, a lot of dust collected on the plans when New Jersey became focused on adult-use or recreational cannabis. Thus, none were prepared to shift into high gear. The lives of the individuals and many plan assumptions changed as time passed due to COVID and a lawsuit.
Thus, they are taking a long time to open.
With so few still open, it’s unclear when the high price and middling quality of legal cannabis will change compared to the legacy market.
With New Jersey’s adult-use legal cannabis program growing slowly but surely, the amount of medical cannabis dispensaries will likely be dwarfed by the hundreds of New Jersey cannabis dispensaries licensed last year. However, there are only 22 rec legal dispensaries now, according to the NJCRC.
A dispensary is not actually a very complicated thing to open versus a growing or manufacturing operation. Thus many recreational/adult-use legal cannabis dispensaries want to be open by 4th of July 2023.
New Jersey’s Medical Cannabis Dispensaries
The following medical cannabis dispensaries are open in New Jersey:
- Design 710 in Atlantic City.
- NJ Leaf in Freehold Boro.
- Holistic Solutions in Atco in Waterford.
- Aunt Mary’s dispensary in Flemington
- Bloc (an MSO), formerly Justice Grown in Somerset Franklin Twp.
- Bloc (an MSO), formerly Justice Grown in Ewing.
- Valley Wellness in Raritan Borough.
- Sweetspot (an MSO) in Voorhees.
- Breakwater in Roselle
- Breakwater in Cranbury.
- Harmony in Secaucus.
- Ascend Wellness (an MSO) in Fort Lee
- Ascend Wellness (an MSO) in Rochelle Park.
- Ascend Wellness (an MSO, formerly Greenleaf) in Montclair.
- Apothecarium (owned by TerrAscend, an MSO) in Lodi.
- Apothecarium (owned by TerrAscend, an MSO) in Maplewood.
- Apothecarium (owned by TerrAscend, an MSO.) in Phillipsburg.
- MPX NJ (owned by iAnthus, an MSO) in Atlantic City.
- Rise (owned by Green Thumb Industries, an MSO) in Bloomfield.
- Rise (owned by Green Thumb Industries) in Paramus.
- Rise (owned by Green Thumb Industries) in Paterson.
- Curaleaf (an MSO) in Bordentown Twp.
- Curaleaf (an MSO) in Bellmawr.
- Curaleaf (an MSO) in Edgewater Park.
- The Cannabist (owned by Columbia Care, an MSO) in Deptford.
- The Cannabist (owned by Columbia Care, an MSO) in Vineland.
- Zen Leaf (owned by Verano, an MSO) in Lawrence Twp.
- Zen Leaf (owned by Verano) in Elizabeth.
- Zen Leaf (owned by Verano) in Neptune Twp.
- The Botanist (owned by Acreage Holdings, an MSO) in Williamstown.
- The Botanist (owned by Acreage Holdings) in Egg Harbor.
- The Botanist (owned by Acreage Holdings) in Atlantic City.
- Ayr Wellness (an MSO, formerly Garden State Dispensary) in Woodbridge.
- Ayr Wellness (an MSO, formerly Garden State Dispensary) in Union Township.
- Ayr Wellness (an MSO, formerly Garden State Dispensary) in Eatontown.