newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

After an extended battle with New Jersey officials, the state’s first medical marijuana center has received its final permit to open and serve patients.

The Greenleaf Compassion Center in Montclair can now sell medical marijuana legally, and is expected to open before the end of the year.

Six groups were chosen by the New Jersey Department of Health in 2011 to grow and sell marijuana, but have had problems finding acceptance in towns, according to an Associated Press report in the Huffington Post. The Greenleaf group agreed to meet patients in Montclair and grow its plants in an undisclosed city.

New Jersey Health Commissioner Mary O’Dowd said, "This permit marks a significant step forward in the implementation of New Jersey's Medicinal Marijuana Program,” according to the New York Daily News.

Marijuana has been said to ease symptoms from a range of conditions and diseases including multiple sclerosis, migraines, cancer, and AIDS.

Only New Jersey residents are eligible for the program, and patients are not allowed to grow their own. According to The Latest Word, marijuana will be sold in three potencies, low, medium and high strength. In New Jersey, the maximum legal level of its primary active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol, is 10 percent.

The effort to open medical marijuana dispensaries in New Jersey was slow due to the strict regulations outlined in the law, passed in January 2010 by then Governor Jon Corzine. But patients and caregivers will soon be receiving identification cards. About 320 patients have already begun registration, and more than 175 physicians have been signed.

17 states and the District of Columbia currently have laws legalizing medical marijuana. Just five other medical marijuana dispensaries, to be known as "alternative treatment centers," are permitted to open in New Jersey.

Centers are being planned in Egg Harbor Township and Woodbridge. The three other locations have not yet been announced.