The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission has approved seven companies that already run medical marijuana dispensaries in the state to now formally sell recreational marijuana.

As the state awaits a date for recreational sales to begin, management from these seven companies are getting ready. These companies include Acreage CCF New Jersey, Curaleaf, Columbia Care, Verano, GTI New Jersey, Ascend New Jersey and Terrascend.

These companies have 13 dispensaries across the state, including The Apothecarium in Maplewood, owned by Terrascend, and Zen Leaf in Neptune, owned by Verano. They now need to pass operational inspections.

Cannabis Regulatory Commission Chair Dianna Houenou said in a statement, “The NJ-CRC will be holding these businesses accountable to the commitments that led to their approvals. It is now on these expanded ATCs to keep up with demand – both medicinal and recreational.”

Management with The Apothecarium says supply is massive.

“We always build out a large grow and manufacturing and processing facility to support our retail locations, as well as the wholesale and patient base,” says Chantelle Elsner, of Terrascend.

Elsner says medicinal patients will always have priority.

“It is not an old-school pot shop from back in the day,” Elsner says. “Patients are going to have the ability to order online, adult-use consumers initially will not. Patients will have a patient-only line, as well as dedicated registers.”

More than 320 businesses in New Jersey have applied for marijuana retail licenses. For comparison, Arizona has approved 140 storefronts for recreational use. New Jersey will now have to wait to see how many more aspiring retailers will be approved by the CRC and how quickly the regulatory body proceeds.

The management from the seven companies say that they expect to attract customers from around the tri-state area. They also expect sales to rise during the summer Jersey Shore travel season.