Harmony Dispensary is temporarily closing its Secaucus location in Hudson County due to scandals surrounding its former CEO and ownership changes.
According to the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (NJ-CRC), Harmony Dispensary will transfer all its cultivation and processing operations to its secondary facility in Lafayette in Sussex County. Their medicinal cannabis patients have been notified and directed to nearby dispensaries. The closest options are:
- RIPT 220 Broadway, Jersey City, New Jersey 07308 201-267-0701.
- Downtown FLWR 141 Newark Avenue, Jersey City, New Jersey 07302, 302-351-4048.
- URB’N Dispensary 378 South St, Newark, New Jersey 07105 973-200-0618.
- Ascend 461-469 West State Street, Fort Lee, New Jersey 07024 973-200-7696.
Harmony Dispensary Problems
At a Hoboken Cannabis Review Board meeting, Hoboken Business Administrator Jason Fireman yelled at their representatives. He was enraged they had been unresponsive to questions from the city for more than two years while their location on the Hoboken waterfront had sat vacant. Many asked the City of Hoboken why Harmony had not opened, and they did know.
The court-appointed representative and New Jersey cannabis attorney could not placate them, and they lost their Hoboken municipal approval to operate.
At the meeting, they said that Illicit Gardens, a Missouri-based cannabis company that might have underground legacy operator roots, is going to take it over.
They initially won one of the highly competitive grants meant for struggling cannabis companies but refused it.
The NJ-CRC is reviewing a proposed ownership change for Harmony and has approved a bridge loan from the proposed new owners to help keep Harmony operating. NJ-CRC staff are actively monitoring the transition to ensure the safe and secure transfer of products and compliance with relevant regulations.
It will likely be discussed at the NJ-CRC meeting on Thursday, December 7th next week.
The NJ-CRC revoked part of their conversion to a New Jersey adult use cannabis license in June. It was due to a lack of payments. In retrospect, that was a sign of what was to come.
Longtime Coming for Troubled New Jersey Cannabis Dispensary
Along with Hoboken, Harmony Dispensary was supposed to have a location in Jersey City open about two years ago. They made a great deal of effort to promote it. But it never opened.
Former Harmony Dispensary CEO Shaya Brodchandel was formerly the President of the New Jersey Cannabis Trade Association (NJCTA). It was founded after the 2020 referendum to only represent licensed cannabis dispensaries.
He is said to have taken money from the company for an investment in another cannabis company. The court removed Brodchandel from the company over the summer. It took two years for the other shoe to drop in a lawsuit.
But Brodchandel blamed “paperwork” for the delays when speaking to Heady NJ in April.
They were the last of the initial six licensed New Jersey medical cannabis dispensaries allowed to grow, produce, and sell medical cannabis products under the regulatory scheme concocted under former Governor Chris Christie (R).
Unlike most of the other NJCTA members, Harmony Dispensary was locally owned.
But Harmony Dispensary had troubles from the beginning.
The first five opened quickly after each other. But Harmony Dispensary lagged and didn’t open in Secaucus until Governor Phil Murphy (D) took office in 2018.
Their dispensary is located in a strange office park in Secaucus. Seacusus only allowed one other New Jersey cannabis dispensary to open in its adult use cannabis legalization implementation law.
