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Tucked in a small commercial mall in an industrial area of Secaucus, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from Manhattan, sits Harmony Dispensary. Behind its unassuming storefront, Harmony prides itself as having an especially high standard among the Garden State\u2019s medical marijuana cannabis outlets. While dispensary customers don\u2019t get to see it, all of the cannabis for sale at Harmony is grown on the premises, in a unique and state-of-the-art hydroponic operation.<\/p>\n
Leslie Hoffman, Harmony\u2019s communications director, says Harmony\u2019s \u201cbiosecure facility\u201d is setting a new standard for cannabis cultivation in\u00a0New Jersey<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have the highest biosecure level in the state,\u201d Hoffman said. \u201cThere is no mandatory state regulation on this. As far as I know, we\u2019re the only ones taking it to this level.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how the system works: Anyone who enters the grow area has to first \u201cgown up\u201d in a jumpsuit and go through an \u201cair-shower\u201d that removes any possible traces of mold, mildew, mites or other contaminants. All air in the grow facility runs through charcoal and HEPA filtration (short for high-efficiency particulate air), as well as a brine solution.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the water that feeds Harmony\u2019s cannabis plants is processed for purity. Municipal water enters the system, receiving a \u201creverse osmosis\u201d treatment before reaching the plants. This pushes the water through ultra-fine membranes, thereby removing contaminants. After irrigation, the water goes to an ozone generator, which takes out impurities but keeps in nutrients. Personnel add more nutrients as needed and recycle the water back into the system.<\/p>\n The whole operation is computerized, including the water valves that are adjusted for each phase of the plant\u2019s life. In fact, inside the grow room, Harmony has integrated automation into as many steps of the process as they can. The plants sit on tables that move on a track system, advancing in increments every day or two, bringing them to workstations designed for each stage of cultivation, including planting, vegetative, flowering and harvesting.<\/p>\n The system was developed in-house, and produced with equipment from other industries, but then retrofitted for cannabis cultivation. A staff of 35 is involved in the various aspects of the process, from planting and cloning to harvesting and packaging.<\/p>\n \u201cWe differentiate ourselves on the market as pure, consistent, effective, modern medicine,\u201d Hoffman said.<\/p>\n Harmony is one of six \u201calternative treatment centers<\/a>\u201d (as they are officially known) now operating in New Jersey\u2019s limited medical marijuana program, with six more licenses due to be approved by year\u2019s end. Now, there are two each in the north, central and south regions of the state, with Harmony in the first category.<\/p>\n Harmony is a new addition to New Jersey\u2019s constellation of ATCs, as it took about a year to get the operation up and running. Harmony received its license to grow in July 2017, planted its first seeds that October and only received its license to sell the following June, as the samples from the first harvest were approved.<\/p>\n \u201cWe opened June 18, and within an hour of announcing our opening, we had patients,\u201d Hoffman says. \u201cWe continue to see an increase, as well as a repeat customer base.\u201d<\/p>\n The dispensary now receives between 50 and 100 patients a day, generally in the higher end of that range, according to Hoffman.<\/p>\n Growth is anticipated, as membership in New Jersey\u2019s medical marijuana program is increasing by about 100 patients a day, standing at nearly 30,000 as of October 2018. New Jersey does not have recreational marijuana, though its new governor Phil Murphy has stated his intent to legalize cannabis for adult use in the\u00a0near future<\/a>.<\/p>\n Shaya Brodchandel, Harmony\u2019s CEO, describes the dispensary\u2019s advice to new patients: \u201cTry it, go slow, see what your reaction is, untill you find what works for you, and stick with that.\u201d<\/p>\n Brodchandel says that back pain is one of the main conditions that patients come in for, while anxiety and PTSD are also common complaints.<\/p>\n Harmony grows 10 strains total and displays them on electronic monitors in the lobby with close-up images of the bud. Alongside each listed variety is the percentage of\u00a0THC<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0CBD<\/a>, as well as the proportion of sativa and indica in the genetic mix. The information on THC and CBD content comes from testing carried out on all strains by the New Jersey Health Department at its lab in Trenton, with the results posted online.<\/p>\n Harmony\u2019s most popular strains include Green Crack, a 50-50 indica-sativa hybrid with an 18 percent THC content, a Purple Crack with similar stats and Strawberry OG, another hybrid with 21.4 percent THC.<\/p>\n Hoffman says that \u201cextractions are the next phase\u201d for Harmony. As an Earth Day project in April, she installed beehives on the premises and hopes to harvest 200 pounds of honey this year. \u201cWe\u2019ll store it until we have extractions, and then we\u2019ll be ready to sell cannabis-infused honey.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked about Harmony\u2019s future if Gov. Murphy fulfills his ambition to legalize recreational cannabis in New Jersey, Hoffman responds: \u201cIf it happens, we will rise to it. But we\u2019re hoping the medical program doesn\u2019t get rolled into the soil as the recreational market comes in.\u201d<\/p>\n Harmony Dispensary<\/strong><\/p>\n 600 Meadowlands Parkway, Suite 15<\/strong><\/p>\n Secaucus, NJ<\/strong><\/p>\n (201) 356-7268<\/strong><\/p>\n harmonydispensary.org<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>, what\u2019s your favorite dispensary?<\/p>\n Originally appeared in Issue 34 of Cannabis Now.\u00a0LEARN MORE<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n The post Dispensary Profile: Harmony Brings State of the Art Cultivation to New Jersey<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Tucked in a small commercial mall in an industrial area of Secaucus, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from Manhattan, sits Harmony Dispensary. Behind its unassuming storefront, Harmony prides itself as having an especially high standard among the Garden State\u2019s medical marijuana cannabis outlets. While dispensary customers don\u2019t get toContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":33656,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9101,50,136,141,1077,5032,85,6599,139,4318,215,420],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33655"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33655"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33657,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33655\/revisions\/33657"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Harmony-Dispensary-Chocolope-Strain.jpg\")
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\nRead More: Dispensary Profile: Harmony Brings State of the Art Cultivation to New Jersey<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"