The state’s medical marijuana dispensaries have nearly doubled their dispensing amounts, patients they serve and transactions they’ve processed from the year before, according to a new state report.
As the program continues to expand, state reports show that more residents, caregivers and doctors are opting in to try medical marijuana for a growing list of qualifying conditions.
Curaleaf Alternative Treatment Center, which previously operated as Compassionate Sciences, in Bellmawr, Camden County, was the busiest dispensary in the state in 2017 after serving 6,358 patients with more than 2,300 pounds of medical marijuana, according to the new report.
It’s a far leap from the number of patients it served in 2015, which was only 778 people.
State health officials expect the program to continue to grow, especially with recent program reforms this year that included adding an additional five conditions—anxiety, migraines, Tourette’s syndrome, chronic pain related to musculoskeletal disorders and chronic visceral pain—to the list.
New Jersey Department of Health officials announced 1,000 people statewide enrolled in the program under the new medical conditions in one month. State health officials are also reviewing applications from dispensaries that want to create satellite locations to serve even more patients and caregivers.
The latest data, which examined registration and dispensing in 2017, showed Compassionate Care Foundation in Egg Harbor Township has nearly doubled its patient base since 2015. It made more than 20,000 medical marijuana transactions amongst its 2,389 patients.
All five operating state dispensaries—Curaleaf, Compassionate Care, Greenleaf, Breakwater, Garden State Dispensary and Harmony Foundation—showed increases in patients, transactions and dispensing amounts from 2016 to 2017.
There are currently 22,000 patients, 614 physicians and 940 caregivers participating in the New Jersey medical marijuana program as of Mary 24.
