The Other Side Dispensary (TOSD), a disabled veteran-founded cannabis business in New Jersey, said it will close its doors "as a direct result of prolonged municipal inaction, regulatory inconsistency, and policy decisions by Jersey City officials."
“This business did not fail because of demand, performance, or management,” said TOSD Founder Dr. Alyza Brevard-Rodriguez in a statement. “It failed because Jersey City created a regulatory environment where doing everything right still isn’t enough to survive.”
TOSD opened in 2024, about two and a half years after incorporation, as one of the first U.S. dispensaries solely funded and founded by minorities.
WATCH: The Turbulent State of New Jersey's Cannabis Industry
Brevard-Rodriguez said her business faced repeated planning board postponements, bifurcation of retail and consumption lounge applications, stop-work orders and inspections that halted construction for months, and unrestricted license issuance, which she said resulted in nearly 60 dispensaries in a city of 300,000.
She said that TOSD also faced more than $65,000 annually in licensing fees, local and state quarterly taxes, estimated financial damages exceeding $1.7 million, and eight employees being displaced.
“If we were treated like any other business, we would not be closing. In our first year, we generated nearly $900,000 in net sales with gross margins exceeding 60 percent. By any standard, that is a healthy, high-performing operation. The difference is that cannabis businesses are burdened with regulatory costs and delays that no other industry is expected to absorb,” said Brevard-Rodriguez in a statement.
