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US (NJ): Consumption lounges still being delayed by officials

Two and a half years after Alyza Brevard-Rodriguez first drew up the plans for a cannabis consumption lounge above her Jersey City dispensary, the lounge is no closer to opening.

Brevard-Rodriguez has plans for The Other Side Dispensary for a lounge that she wants to be a safe space for locals and visitors alike to consume cannabis and hold cannabis-focused events. Instead, the room is covered in wooden planks and building materials. It needs HVAC upgrades and a security monitoring system, but Brevard-Rodriguez and other hopeful consumption lounge operators don't know all the requirements state cannabis regulators will require for them to open.

"I can't even smartly invest in doing the build-out without having confidence in the state, because it would just be another period of me wasting money without really knowing what would come on the other side," Brevard-Rodriguez said during an interview at her dispensary, which opened last month.

It's been nearly 10 months since the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission approved rules for the operation of cannabis consumption areas in New Jersey, but the commission has yet to discuss the process or open applications for retailers who want to run lounges.

Read more at New Jersey Monitor

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