The fifth medical marijuana dispensary in New Jersey, and the second in Middlesex County, will open Thursday, the state Health Department announced.
TRENTON -- The fifth medical marijuana dispensary in New Jersey, and the second in Middlesex County, will open Thursday, the state Health Department announced.
Breakwater Treatment & Wellness in Cranbury will begin by seeing patients by appointment only.
"We are more than ready to hit the ground running," said Jon Fisher, an attorney and one of Breakwater's directors. "We have a ton of product in our vault."
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Breakwater intends to grow enough to serve as many as 3,000 patients, Fisher said.
There are 5,540 registered patients and 355 caregivers who are authorized to buy the cannabis for patients homebound or too sick to travel, Health Department spokeswoman Donna Leusner said.
The 21,000-square-foot facility is located at 2 Corporate Drive, Suite E in an industrial park in the tiny borough.
Fisher said he was "relieved" that opening day is imminent 4-1/2 years after the health department awarded it one of the six exclusive contracts to produce and sell medical marijuana.
"It's been a very long road. It's a new industry, new for us, new for the state, a lot of rules that had to be complied with," Fisher said. "We started with seed and grew our own mother plants. That process took several months" followed by "the drying and curing."
The dispensary received its permit to begin growing in November.
With the state issuing the final permit Wednesday afternoon, Breakwater Treatment & Wellness becomes second ATC to operate in the central region and the fifth to operate in the state.
The other dispensaries are Greenleaf Compassion Center of Montclair, Compassionate Care Foundation of Egg Harbor, Garden State Dispensary of Woodbridge and Compassionate Sciences of Bellmawr in Camden County, which opened last week.
The sixth and final dispensary, Foundation Harmony, planned for Secaucus, remains in the background check phase, Leusner said.
The state will notify the patients and caregivers that Breakwater is open, according to the announcement.
Patients may schedule an appointment by calling the dispensary at (732) 703-7300 or booking an appointment online at BreakwaterATC.com, according to the health department announcement released Wednesday.
The law, passed in 2010, requires patients select one dispensary to serve them and register that preference with the program. The change may be done online at or by calling the program's customer service unit at 609-292-0424.
Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.