My trip to New Jersey’s newest cannabis dispensary

Recreational marijuana was legalized in February 2021, but I had never visited one of the shops until this past weekend.

A new dispensary just opened in Lakehurst in Ocean County. It’s not too terribly far from my house and I was curious, so I decided to check it out.

It’s called High Profile and it’s on Route 70

When you walk in, you’re not immediately in the showroom; you have to go up to a counter where they check your ID. After that, you are escorted into the room with all the products.

I used to smoke pot when I was a teenager, but that was a loooong time ago. Back then, you either bought rolled joints or a bag of loose weed.

I guess I just wasn’t ready for the breadth of variety the store featured.

They feature all manner of delivery systems, from pre-rolled joints to gummies to lozenges to tinctures to loose buds to vapes.

They seemed to be doing a brisk business on a Saturday afternoon; if I had to guess, I would say the average age of the clientele seemed to be in the 60s. The showroom is pretty roomy and I would say that there were 20 customers.

The consultant I was paired with seemed very knowledgeable (I was looking primarily for something with a calming effect for my autistic son, who can get awfully worked up).

She had an iPad and scrolled through some of the options that she thought might be helpful.

She explained the difference between different strains and the difference between sativa and indica (one’s for perking up and one’s for mellowing out, depending on your preference.

They had a product specifically designed to calm you down, so I decided to try that one for my son. After making my decision, it was ordered via the iPad and fulfilled in the back of the store.

Of course, it is cash only due to banks refusing cannabis dispensary’s business because of its federal status of being illegal. They have an ATM right in the showroom for convenience.

So I went to the cashier and paid for it (yes, there was a tip jar) and waited for it to be brought from the back. That took just a couple of minutes and I was on my way.

The whole experience was positive; I got what I wanted and learned a lot, too.

Maybe I’ll go back for myself next time.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle only.

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