First Black-Owned & Women-Led Cannabis Dispensary To Open In East Orange, New Jersey

First Black-Owned & Women-Led Cannabis Dispensary To Open In East Orange, New Jersey

A new retail cannabis dispensary, The Flower Garden Dispensary gained approval from the City of East Orange City Council to operate a Class 5, retail cannabis dispensary located at 381 Martin Luther King Blvd at the intersection of Main Street.

The Flower Garden Dispensary will be the first black-owned and women-led retail cannabis dispensary in the state of New Jersey. CEO & Founder, Dana Rone, along with partners and East Orange natives Dawn Middleton and Jose Rivera III, will operate a first-of-its-kind, state-of-the-art, four-story dispensary located in the heart of the city’s Arts & Cultural District. In addition to the ground floor dispensary store, The Flower Garden Dispensary plans to create cannabis consumption spaces, including a recreational consumption lounge, an educational hub, an events area and a co-working space, where adult customers can safely consume cannabis products.

Rone, a life-long civil servant and advocate in Newark and the County of Essex, worked closely with NJ legislators to ensure the NJ Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization (CREAMM) Act was drafted and passed with Social Equity measures for Black and minority participants.

“I’ve long dreamt of entering the growing cannabis industry and opening a business that will create new opportunities for our communities,” said Rone. “We hope our inclusive and welcoming space will help change the historical negative narrative and experience of cannabis in our communities to one that is positive.”

The Flower Garden Dispensary will forward the East Orange resolution to the NJ Cannabis Regulatory Commission as the final step in the application for a license to open a marijuana dispensary in New Jersey. Securing the Council’s Resolution of Support allows The Flower Garden Dispensary to open its doors to the City of East Orange and surroundings areas in early 2024.

As part of its commitment to building the East Orange community, The Flower Garden Dispensary has proposed a project to partner with the City of East Orange on the State’s Façade Improvement Program to participate in and support the City’s plan to revitalize the Arts & Cultural District, benefitting all its neighbors on the lower Main Street corridor. The project will add plants and trees, benches, and lighting to the area.

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