NJ Department of Health Releases Names of ATCs for Medicinal Marijuana Program
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
The Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) announced today that six nonprofit entities have been selected to operate Alternative Treatment Centers (ATCs) for the state’s Medicinal Marijuana program.
The successful applicants are:
· Breakwater Alternative Treatment Center, Corp., Ocean, Central Region; Board of Trustees/Officers: Richard Lefkowitz, CEO; H. Alexander Zaleski, COO. The ATC would be located in Manalapan, Monmouth County.
· Compassionate Care Centers of America Foundation Inc. (CCCAF), Jersey City, Central Region; Board of Directors: David Weisser, Michael Weisser and Anastasia Burlyuk. The ATC would be located in New Brunswick, Middlesex County.
· Compassionate Care Foundation Inc., West Trenton, Southern Region; Board of Trustees: William J. Thomas, David Knowlton, James C. Herrmann, Ann Marie Hill, Jeffrey Warren, JoAnn Lange, Mark Dumoff. The ATC would be located in Bellmawr, Camden County.
· Compassionate Sciences, Inc. ATC, Sea Cliff, NY, Southern Region; Board of Trustees, CEO Richard Taney, Dr. Steven Paterno, CFO Jack Burkolder; Webster Todd. The location of the ATC is undetermined, but will be located in either Burlington or Camden County.
· Foundation Harmony, Cliffside Park, Northern Region; Board of Directors: Maria Karavas, Ida Umanskaya, Margarita Ivanova and Dmitri Bajanov. The ATC would be in Secaucus, Hudson County.
· Greenleaf Compassion Center, Montclair, Northern Region; Board of Trustees: Joseph Stevens, president, CEO; Jordan A. Matthews, Robert J. Guarino. The ATC would be in Montclair, Essex County.
The regional breakdown is as follows:
Northern Region: Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, Sussex and Warren
Central Region: Hunterdon, Middlesex, Mercer, Monmouth, Ocean, Somerset and Union
Southern Region: Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem
The six winning applicants were selected from among 35 applications submitted by 21 applicants. Several applicants applied to operate multiple ATCs in multiple regions. The applications were scored by a five-member selection committee comprised of three employees from DHSS, and one each from the departments of Agriculture and Community Affairs. The maximum score was 1,500 points—300 per selection committee reviewer. The scores for the applicants selected are: CCCAF, 1,289 points; Foundation Harmony, 1,287; Compassionate Care Foundation, 1,263; Breakwater ATC, 1,262; Greenleaf Compassion Center, 1,237 and Compassionate Sciences, 1,171.
“This is pioneering territory for the state of New Jersey. We are now one step closer to providing patients with debilitating conditions relief from chronic pain,” said Commissioner Poonam Alaigh, M.D. “The Department anticipates that these ATCs will be operating this summer in the Northern, Central and Southern Regions of the state.”
“The successful applicants presented comprehensive and high quality proposals including sound financial plans and appropriate security measures,’’ Dr. Alaigh said.
The key components of the plan outlined in the Request for Applications required applicants to have:
· A three-year financial operations plan
· A detailed description of safety and security measures including a plan for an enclosed, locked facility that would be used in the cultivation of medicinal marijuana and assure coordination with local law enforcement
· A plan for inventory, record keeping and protection of personal health care information
· A plan to track and analyze data on patient outcome, use and trends
· A plan to provide counseling and educational materials on methods of using medicinal marijuana and promote research studies on health effects.
· A draft operations manual and staff training plan
· A quality control program to ensure the quality of the medicinal marijuana, including purity, potency and consistency of dose
· A plan to dispose of unusable marijuana
Some highlights of the successful plans include:
“Our mission at Compassionate Sciences ATC is to establish in the Southern Region of New Jersey a medical model of care that sets a national standard consistent with the compassionate principle, legislative intent and public policy vision that animate the New Jersey medicinal marijuana program.”
Compassionate Care Foundation, “created to cultivate and dispense pharmaceutical grade cannabis to meet medical needs, was founded by a group of former health department regulators, community leaders, healthcare professionals, researchers and non-profit directors who understand both the therapeutic value of this product and public sensitivities.”
The mission of Breakwater Alternative Treatment Center is to “create a safe, compassionate, comfortable and controlled environment where qualifying patients can receive laboratory tested medical cannabis at a reasonable price.”
“CCCAF intends to operate a first-class medical marijuana and wellness ATC, complemented by a state-of-the-art cultivation center, all of which is managed by a team of medical/businesss/agriculture experts. We expect to serve as a model facility that operates in full compliance with the law, maintains the highest standards of professional operation, and truly serves to improve the well-being of registered, qualifying patients.”
"The members of Greenleaf Compassion Center have been proponents of medical marijuana for alternative patient treatment for more than a combined 20 years. Working with a diverse community advisory board that includes business leaders, community members, health care professional and elected officials, we have developed a plan whose success would be measured by our ability to provide patients with products that will improve their quality of life."
Foundation Harmony Alternative Treatment Center will provide qualified patients with adequate, safe, secure and affordable supply of medicine along while educating patients on medicinal marijuana use. Foundation Harmony will operate as a non-profit that helps cultivate healthy lives by providing best quality medicinal marijuana, emotional support, and personal development services to patients affected by debilitating medical conditions.
The Department posted a Request for Applications in January; applications were due Feb. 14.
For complete information on the State of New Jersey’s Medicinal Marijuana program, including frequently asked questions and answers, please visit the DHSS Medicinal Marijuana website.