A medical marijuana dispensary slated to open just blocks from a competitor on the Atlantic City Boardwalk can move forward despite attempts to block it, a court has ruled.
On Thursday, a state appellate court denied a motion filed by Compassionate Care Foundation to stay the licensing process of MPX NJ, which plans to open soon and become a competing neighbor of Compassionate Care.
Compassionate Care has argued that putting two dispensaries so close together does not further the goals of the medical marijuana program, which include expanding access to patients. Patients in South Jersey counties such as Cape May, Burlington, Gloucester and Salem, where there are no dispensaries, will still see long commutes to use the two Atlantic City dispensaries.
Compassionate Care opened its Egg Harbor Township dispensary in 2013, becoming one of the first in the state. The company then opened a new satellite dispensary last month on the Atlantic City Boardwalk.
That came just weeks after the state Department of Health gave another dispensary, MPX NJ, the green light to start growing marijuana in nearby Pleasantville.
Compassionate Care first took issue with MPX’s potential proximity in February 2019, filing for a stay in the process months after the health department awarded six new licenses, an effort to double the medical marijuana program’s size and meet growing patient needs. So far, only one has opened.
But an appellate court denied that motion, too, arguing Compassionate Care had not met the standard of irreparable harm in its claim.
The state’s medical marijuana program began with just six dispensaries, which has led to shortages in supply as the program has grown to include more than 70,000 patients. As the program grapples with the fallout of the coronavirus outbreak, patients have waited hours in their cars to stock up on medical marijuana, sometimes finding the dispensaries have run out of the medicine they sought.
At the time of the 2019 denial, the court said Compassionate Care could seek another injunction if circumstances changed. That’s what happened when the company opened the doors to its second dispensary.
All the while, five applicants for those 2018 licenses who were passed over by the health department have filed an appeal of the licensing process. Compassionate Care had argued the stay was necessary to prevent irreparable harm if the dispensaries open before the appeal wraps up.
“CCF will thereby be irreparably harmed because it will have forever lost its ability to challenge the [health department’s] decision to allow MPX to pursue its Atlantic City facility," the company argued.
In a statement on the latest denial, Sean Mack, an attorney representing Compassionate Care, expressed disappointment with the ruling, but also noted that it will not necessarily render the ongoing appeal of the licensing moot.
“We can only assume the appellate court agreed with the arguments of the [health department] that the stay is not needed because the appeal will not become moot even if the applicants become operational," he said. "As the [health department] argued, ‘Applicants proceed with the process at their own risk, and awardees are well aware of the risk that their permits may be challenged.’”
Beth Stavola, the chief strategy officer and director of MPX, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
