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Montclair's Marijuana Dispensary First To Grow Grass In NJ
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Apr 17, 2012
Modified Apr 17, 2012
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Apr 17, 2012
Modified Apr 17, 2012
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Yesterday New Jersey issued its first permit to a facility that allows the cultivation of medicial marijuana in a town also known as "Park Slope West." The Greenleaf Compassion Center in Montclair will be allow to grow the plant, but not sell it, as an additional permit is necessary pending another state inspection. "The patients we work with and represent are ecstatic," New Jersey's director of the Drug Policy Alliance, Roseanne Scotti says in a release. "They have waited so long for safe and legal access to medical marijuana and this gives them hope that that wait is coming to an end and relief is in sight.”
Passed in 2010, New Jersey's medical marijuana initiative has languished in bureaucracy. Last month the head of Greenleaf, Joe Stevens, said he was "foolish" to believe that governor Chris Christie would ever allow the program to get off the ground, and said he was considering "resorting to the legal process." It appears the squeaky wheel gets the stickiest stash.
A total of six treatment centers are allowed under the law, but only one other has received a permit for a space, and no other center other than Greenleaf has a permit to grow. We're looking forward to rooting for Chris Christie when President Obama comes to raid his state's medical marijuana dispensaries, as he has repeatedly done, despite his campaign promise to the contrary.
Tagged
medical marijuana
medicine
Chris Christie
marijuana
drugs
barack obama
war on drugs
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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