Assemblyman Giblin of New Jersey quickly p-shopped onto a pic of live cannabis plants in Oaksterdam
4/8/2011 – What do a funeral director an Army tank crewman and a sitting New Jersey legislator have in common? Cannabis.
Assemblyman Thomas Giblin, a Democrat from Clifton and the current Deputy Majority Leader, sits on the Medical Advisory Board of Greenleaf Compassion Center.
Newly released documents are showing some further political connections for the blooming New Jersey medical marijuana industry.
Half of the new Alternative Treatment Centers were tied to Republican politicos, but it seems that the Dems won’t be kept out of the garden…or in this case the carefully run indoor hydroponic operation.
Greenleaf Compassion Center hopes to open in Montclair, a community that would serve as a likely location for success. Mayor Jerry Fried, a well-known Democrat in the region, even supplied a letter of support included in the application. It stated, “ I believe GCC has a strong business plan. I am impressed with the relationship they have established with Montclair State University and our local Assemblyman Thomas Giblin.”
Mayor Fried (pronounced frEEd by the way) closed with “I look forward to a long and fruitful relationship between the Township of Montclair and GCC.”
Joe Stevens is the Chairman at Greenleaf and the former funeral director. According to his short biography Stevens decided to move into medical care instead, now he is specializing in medical marijuana. Robert Gurino is a Greenleaf Board principal and the Army vetran who served overseas in recent conflicts. Along with some physicians, a business specialist, two horticultural experts and the powerfully positioned Giblin they own one of the first regulated medical marijuana facilities on the East Coast.
Arguably, all of the new NJ ATCs face a tough battle to open their doors and are burdened with the greatest risk for federal interference. New Jersey’s Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) went forward with the ATC application process without final regulations in place; those will be finalized in May.
Nonetheless, twenty-one groups turned in proposals with a $20, 000 fee. All of the potential medical cannabis providers in New Jersey had to demonstrate that are very well capitalized as not-for-profit businesses. Instead of utilizing traditional loans there is a big block of raw cash capital. Recent DEA raids in Montana and California have shown the federal tactic of targeting cash and assets.
The centralized system in the Garden State with just six medical marijuana facilities for almost 10 million people (all of them with bank accounts bulging with millions of dollars) are bound to be a attractive targets for the Feds.
That makes Assemblyman Giblin’s decision to sign on Greenleaf Compassion Center’s medical board all the more interesting. He is the first elected official in any state to serve such a prominent role in a regulated medical marijuana business.
We are continuing to review the 1500 pages of documents released yesterday from the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS). These are the six successful applications for the NJ Alternative Treatment Centers that have been redacted by DHSS.
Stay tuned for detailed reviews of each application.