Neighbor News
NJ Medical Marijuana Patients Deserve Better Access
With NJ focused on rolling out adult-use recreational sales, Murphy Administration should act now to issue more medical marijuana permits.
While medical marijuana became legal after I retired as a physician, I’ve been following the research and am optimistic about the relief it provides patients with a myriad of debilitating conditions. What concerns me, however, is far too few patients can access the benefits of cannabis because New Jersey’s medical marijuana market is so small.
New Jersey medical marijuana patients are plagued with long lines, supply shortages and amongst the highest cost in the nation for medical cannabis. The reason? The number of registered medical marijuana patients has grown by tens of thousands since Governor Murphy took office, but the state has issued only a handful of medical cannabis permits since then. In fact, today there are just 14 medical marijuana dispensaries to serve over 110,000 registered patients. The math simply doesn’t work, and patients are needlessly suffering.
With the State’s eyes on rolling out adult-use recreational sales, the Murphy Administration should act now to issue more medical marijuana permits. Demand is going to skyrocket once adult-use sales come online and without more options to access medical cannabis, patients will face even greater challenges getting the treatment they need. The time to act is now.