The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Committee awarded new businesses licenses on Friday.

It is the day that 200 entrepreneurs have been waiting for. The commission announced after a 4-1 vote that 14 new medical marijuana licenses would be issued. This doubles the current number of operators.

“These companies have waited so long to get their licenses. They've had time to like work out the kinks and really put the patients forward and do right by the patients,” says medical marijuana patient Angela Colandrea.

A mother of two, Colandrea is also a cannabis advocate and content creator. She says that she is excited to finally see the strides in the cannabis industry after a long wait, with emphasis on the patients.

“We want to make sure that the people getting these licenses are putting the patients first,” she says. “At the end of the day, no matter what, cannabis is a patient-forward type of industry.”

MORE: Marijuana Matters

RELATED: CDC issues warning about potential delta-8 THC in some cannabis products

Todd Johnson, treasurer for the New Jersey Cannabis Trade Association says that the NJCRC upped the number of cultivation awards from five to 10 based on patient need.

“Which is essentially going to approximately double the amount of canopy for square footage that is in New Jersey. It's going to be dedicated to flowering medical cannabis plants,” he says.

With the new licenses, the number of dispensaries in New Jersey goes from 12 to 26, covering 355,000 square feet of canopy and serving approximately 130,000 medical marijuana patients.

The Cannabis Trade Association says that New Jersey could potentially see 600,000-700,000 adult-use marijuana consumers added to the market when recreational marijuana hits the market. But Johnson says they are confident that the market will be able to handle the influx of customers, especially after the bump in cultivation licenses.