in our Spotlight on Business Report tonight New Jersey is now more than a full year into recreational Cannabis sales but Ocean County has been the state's most glaring holdout of the 33 municipalities there only six allow any type of weed business this week though the Jersey Shore is putting itself on the map opening a recreational and medicinal dispensary as Melissa Rose Cooper reports there are still other issues within the industry Advocates say aren't being addressed cannabis customers in Ocean County now have a place closer to home where they can make their purchases the socially dispensary just opened its doors Friday in South Toms River it's the first Recreational facility to begin sales in the county the road was very long approximately five years ago I met with a friend of mine that was talking about getting into it so the journey really truly began then before the social leave opened customers would have to travel long distances to access Recreational Products now its owners who are from the area are excited to provide services right in their backyard as I grew up right here in Toms River I play South Toms River little league and this is South Toms River right here you know you know all the other ones they're corporates from out west you know we plan on doing a lot of things we plan on putting money back into South Toms River South Toms River mayor Oscar cradle agrees sales and dispensary generates will help to improve the community we got 4 000 people one square mile we're very limited of what we can offer our residents with this it will add we can add to our Police Department we can add to our public works department our public works department can do more than just pick up garments they can help clean up our town Ocean County also welcoming another cannabis location last week block dispensary in Waretown is now open for medical marijuana sales it's the third store in New Jersey for the multi-state operating business I think that um there's room for everybody in the market I think if we do it right and we don't cannibalize the um the state and just I think there's room for everybody I think that um having all of the uh mom and pop shops come together with msos and build that relationship is huge the more places people you know can save some time we're trying our best to get all types of different medications here so that way people don't have to drive an hour away anymore they can come to one place and find all their medications in one spot nearly 103 000 New Jersey are registered as medical marijuana patients Ocean County has some of the most in the state with roughly 8 300 residents so Advocates are happy there are more options closer to home patients had to travel as far away as Neptune or Bordentown or egg harbor to to get access to cannabis and now it's going to be a lot more convenient for for these patients Ken wolski is the executive director of the Coalition for medical marijuana he says having more access to cannabis in Ocean County will especially be helpful for seniors who make up the fastest growing demographic of marijuana uses in the country and may not always be able to travel to other locations around the states it's a long drive uh you know it's a an all-day Affair to get to uh to get access to Legal cannabis and if you live if you live in a cannabis desert like Ocean County and it makes it really makes um access to the kind of medicine that many people need on a daily basis uh either impossible or or greatly difficult so um it's it's a way of denying patients their their access and while Advocates are glad Ocean County now has its own cannabis dispensaries the cost of products is still a concern they want lawmakers to allow home cultivation of marijuana as well as push for insurance companies to cover medical cannabis so it can be more affordable for NJ Spotlight news I'm Melissa Rose Cooper [Music]