The Greenleaf Compassion Center
When a state you live in finally legalizes medical marijuana, you are bound to witness the opening of that first cannabis dispensary. Not that long ago, New Jersey legalized medical marijuana, provided future cannabis businessmen with some ground rules for opening dispensaries and voila, the first dispensary was open. The Greenleaf Compassion Center in Montclair was supposed to be a small family run dispensary that would provide medical marijuana to the residents of North Jersey, not the entire state. For that very same reason, the waiting list is growing on a daily basis.
Demand exceeds expectations
The original plan was to provide weed to around three hundred patients. That number is now well over six hundred. A lot of the patients seem a bit disappointed by the fact that they make wait up to three months to obtain their first medical marijuana prescription. Martha (56) says that she will continue to buy weed illegally as she sees no other options. She calls the center every week and she always received the same answer – ‘Call back in a week’.
After several phone calls, she decided to just wait it out and buy weed illegally in the mean time. Chronic pain, headaches and nausea simply go away when she smokes marijuana and she’s not planning on giving that up anytime soon. She obviously can’t grow her own over night, she would still have to wait for at least three months for the first buds; unless she’s growing an Autoflowering strain, of course.
Strict regulations
The reason why NJ is under a lot of heat right now is because of its strict regulations on medical marijuana dispensaries, which is also one of the reasons only one of them has opened so far. Rumors have it that several dispensaries delayed their opening intentionally because they want to see at least one thousand registered patients in order to be sure that there is actual demand out there. A bit sneaky if it’s true, though.
Learning on past mistakes
Furthermore, everybody wants to avoid another California, where over 500 dispensaries have been shut down because thorough investigations have revealed most of the prescriptions were given out for recreational marijuana use. That is why New Jersey is currently planning only six dispensaries. Furthermore, in order to obtain a medical marijuana prescription you will have to visit make regular visits to your doctor (at least four times). Plus, the state has instructed doctors to decide on their own whether to provide the patients with medical marijuana or not.
A second dispensary is supposed to open in the summer, but nobody believes that will actually happen until there is a very strong demand for it. However, by the looks of things so far, demand will be the least of their worries.
