TRENTON — Eighteen months after Gov. Chris Christie signed a law allowing children to consume marijuana-infused edible products, the state Health Department has released long-awaited standards for the medical marijuana growers who will manufacture the oils, syrups and lozenges.

The guidelines do not describe how the products should be made, but are the first step in an approval process likely to take months before anything is available for purchase. The guidelines require the dispensary to appoint a manufacturing supervisor to oversee the production, inventory, packaging and the quality control procedures, according to the 12-page health department document.

The standards prohibit the package from using any visuals that would appeal to children, any government insignias, or any labels associated with commercially-available snacks, baked goods or beverages.

The release of the guidelines sent to dispensary owners last week thrilled David Knowlton, founder of Compassionate Care Foundation Alternative Treatment Center in Egg Harbor, who said 20 of the dispensary's 963 patients are minors.

"I'm glad it's out there. We have patients who want to use it," said Knowlton, who is also president of the N.J. Health Care Quality Institute, a consumer advocacy and research nonprofit.

It's too soon to say what kind of products the dispensary will produce, Knowlton said. "We're talking to extraction groups, and we are going to have to see what the state will permit," Knowlton said.

Julio Valentin, founder of Greenleaf Compassion Center in Montclair, said Monday night he would seek permission to produce edible products.

Michael Weisser, CEO for the Garden State Dispensary in Woodbridge and his spokesman did not return a call and email seeking comment Monday. At a public hearing earlier this month, Weisser said he state health officials last spring came to a demonstration of the manufacturing process using butane to cook down and extract the active ingredients -- a process regularly used in his Colorado dispensaries — and he had not gotten a response on his application.

Some families said they grew tired of waiting and purchased smokable form of the plant and learned how to extract the active ingredients by following directions found online or on numerous Facebook sites devoted to medicinal marijuana uses.



The legislation was Inspired by the plight of Vivian Wilson, then a 2-year-old from Scotch Plains with a severe and potentially fatal form of epilepsy, and the public battle her family fought to change the program to be more accommodating to children. The Wilsons moved to Colorado a year ago, however, out of concern that Vivian needed the benefits of cannabis right away.

Some patients and their advocates have criticized the state's medical marijuana program for being too restrictive, in particular for the governor's decision to allow edible products for children only.

At the Statehouse on Monday, the state Assembly Regulatory Oversight Committee approved a resolution (ACR-224) that would require the state to revise program regulations that violate the intent of the original law, such as limiting edible products to minors. If the department refuses within 30 days of the resolution's passage in both houses, the legislature could act under the state constitution to invalidate some or all of the program's rules by passing another resolution.

"The purpose of this entire program is to provide relief to critically ill patients, not impose additional burdens on those who are already suffering. Instead, many of these regulations have proven counterproductive because they unnecessarily restrict access to medical marijuana for those who need it most," said Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer), the committee chairman and one of the sponsors of the bill. "They have resulted in a shortage of physicians, a lack of necessary strains to combat certain illnesses, and limited the ways to provide relief to minors. The state needs to start working with patients, not against them."

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.