Pubdate: Fri, 02 Sep 2011 Source: Burlington County Times (NJ) Copyright: 2011 Calkins Newspapers. Inc. Contact: https://phillyburbs-dot-com.bloxcms-ny1.com/contact/ Website: http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/burlington_county_times_news/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2128 Author: Jeannie O'Sullivan, Staff Writer CHESTERFIELD EYED FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA FACILITY CHESTERFIELD -- The township may become home to South Jersey's first medical marijuana growing facility. Representatives from a West Trenton-based alternative treatment center have informed officials that they're scouting locations in the township for a growing facility, but have not named a specific location nor submitted a site plan application to the Planning Board. Compassionate Care Foundation Inc. canceled plans to appear before the Township Committee several weeks ago and have not communicated since, said Mayor Larry Durr, acknowledging the many unanswered questions about the plan. Key among them: Will it be solely a greenhouse, or will it be a dispensary, too? William Thomas, a Compassionate Care Foundation trustee, did not return several phone calls for comment. "We're in unchartered waters. The question is, do we look at this as an agricultural crop or a do we look at this as a pharmaceutical manufacturer?" said Durr, a retired farmer. Despite media reports that the facility would be up and running by Sept. 9, the organization hasn't filed a Planning Board application and would need to do so by Saturday in order to be heard at the Sept. 13 meeting. Planning board applications must be filed 10 days before meetings. Planning board member Glenn McMahon said that permits are needed due to the nature of this enterprise, which would likely entail a greenhouse that required high-level security. "It's a special crop they're growing, so they would need a special facility," he said. Compassionate Care Foundation is one of six nonprofits selected by the state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) in March to operate alternative treatment centers (ATCs) for the state's Medicinal Marijuana Program. Compassionate Care Foundation's DHSS application indicated plans to open a facility in Bellmawr in Camden County, an idea that went up in smoke. Bellmawr Finance Director Maria Fasulo said that the nonprofit a few months ago approached borough officials about possibly leasing industrial space, but the plan never went forward. New Jersey's medical marijuana law allows two ATCs each to operate in the north, central and southern regions of the state; ATCs may both dispense and grow medicinal marijuana. Compassionate Sciences Inc. of Sea Cliff, N.Y., is the other ATC licensed to operate in the Southern region and had planned top open a facility in an undetermined location in Burlington or Camden County. Attempts to reach the nonprofit were unsuccessful. According to its plan submitted to the state DHSS, Compassionate Care Foundation was founded by a group of former health department regulators, community leaders, health care professionals, researchers and nonprofit directors "to cultivate and dispense pharmaceutical grade cannabis to meet medical needs." Medical marijuana patients must register with the DHSS after receiving a physician's certification of a debilitating medical condition for which traditional drugs or treatments would not be effective, and for which the potential benefits of marijuana would outweigh the health risks, according to the law. The DHSS will maintain medical marijuana user registries including the patient's certification and information about the the position's physician and primary caregiver. The law counts as debilitating medical conditions cancer, glaucoma, positive HIV/AIDS; chronic or debilitating diseases or medical conditions that produce cachexia or wasting syndrome, severe or chronic pain, severe nausea, seizures, severe and persistent muscle spasms; other medical conditions may be administratively be added by the DHSS. New Jersey in January 2010 became the 14th state in the nation to legalize the use of marijuana for certain chronic medical conditions. Medical marijuana programs are also in place in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.