The Honorable Plant opened its doors at 123 Bay Avenue Highlands Monday morning, and promises to be a new, exciting, well run and well organized addition to a main street that continues to add new businesses to the borough.
Owned by a team headed by Jackie Bruckmann, a New Jersey born and locally raised entrepreneur, the Honorable Plant offers a wide range of high-quality products offering cannabis in flower, pre-rolls, vapes, edibles, concentrates and even lotions.
It provides a staff eager to help with counseling or guidance whether a person is a first time visitor to a dispensary or a regular shopper who orders products on line and arranges to pick them up at the Bay Avenue facility enroute home from the ferry or a day at the beach.
Currently hours are seven days a week opening at 8 a.m. each morning, and open until nine Sunday through Wednesday, and an hour later closing at 10 Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Hours are temporary for the new establishment, enabling managers to determine the busiest hours and the most convenient time for shoppers.
“The team at The Honorable Plant has done a tremendous job in renovating their Sandy ravaged, vacant building and creating a very welcoming space including many nautical features,” said Highlands Mayor Carolyn Broullon. “ The Borough wishes them the best of success and is looking forward to receiving 2% of every sale which will offset taxpayers’ dollars in our budget.”
That New Jersey is stringent on regulations of this comparatively new business to the state cannot be denied. There is no doubt The Honorable Plant is equally stringent in assuring itself, the borough and its customers that even the smallest infraction of the law will not be tolerated. More than that, the openness of the store, the large number of parking places, and the more than the state mandated camera coverage of all aspects of the property is testimony that the Honorable Plant is indeed a most honorable business.
Jake Scire of Marlboro, originally from Middletown is one of the managers of the Honorable Plant, and went to Lehigh University before becoming general manager of a trucking company.
He left that lucrative business to work with cannabis sales because he has seen the personal benefits of cannabis and did extensive research to learn more about its attributes and deficits. He himself took cannabis while at college because he describes himself as a Type A personality…something easy to see in his quick mannerisms, his abilities to handle a couple of different chores at the same time, and his quick thinking mind.
A friend introduced him to cannabis as a relaxant, a means of maintaining his type A personality and his ability to get things done but at the same time giving him the ability to weigh it with sufficient sleep and relaxation to continue to be successful.
Kim Wagner, a Washington state native, is the Director of Compliance for the Honorable Plant, and doesn’t brook any nonsense. There is no way of anyone getting past the entrance door from the welcome center to the door into the locked showroom that is strikingly clean and highly visible from the entry room through floor to ceiling glass.
Inside the showroom, it‘s a crisp deep blue and white décor that highlights and accents videos all displaying a variety of facts, information and displays of what is offered. In the center of the room is the Bud Bar, an attractive arrangement of dozens of varieties of flower buds in glass containers, each available for smelling to seek out the best aromas for whatever the customer’s needs.
The Bud Bar features popular buds including grape cream cake and animal tsunami as well as a fragrant and intriguing pineapple OG, a Pink Passion Fruit and a White Widow. Lining the wall of the spacious room are showcases with all of the numerous items available for sale, as well as an array of tee shirts, hoodies, caps and other clothing that carries the shop’s name and logo.
The dispensary offers a variety of manufacturers of its products, in attempts to present a variety of prices. A popular product that many say is beneficial in relieving chronic pain is Dr. Solomon Lotion, available for $50 for slightly less than two ounces.
Prices run the gamut from $8 for a single pre-roll joint to $90 for some varieties used for vaping. In addition, there are a variety of accessories at all prices, with the most expensive a blown glass water pipe at $90.
Considerable care has been taken throughout the many months or redesigning and updating the former food market and restaurant to maintain a nautical motif for the shop because of its location in the waterfront Highlands.
A large ship’s wheel from an antique sailing ship is also in the room, though not yet mounted, to highlight the dispensary’s pride in being located Highlands with its accent on both history and water related industries from clamming and fishing to boating and swimming.
Store Manager Ty Huey, another New Jerseyan, reiterates the strictness of New Jersey laws governing cannabis and said he is excited that a natural product which has so many benefits to so many people in so many different ways is finally recognized for its value, rather than the reputation it has gained from illegal sales and use.
“We have hundreds of different items for sale, we have cannabis in all forms and from all different producers so we are able to offer something for everyone, whether the buyer wants to spend a few dollars or hundreds of dollars. There has been considerable research into how some cannabis products have been health aids for cancer victims, especially among younger cancer victims and research is continuing in all directions. Some cannabis products tend to make people hungry so research is also continuing into weight problems.
Wagner noted the business is particularly appreciated by numerous veterans, many of whom use cannabis products either for pain relief or to ease the effects of PTSD. As a result the dispensary and others like it are also supporters of several veterans groups and offer discounts to military personnel or veterans because of their service to the nation.
The Honorable Plant employs approximately one dozen personnel because of its open hours, its dedication to ensuring compliance with all state regulations, and its desire to provide informed personnel to answer the questions or give in-depth information on all that is offered. “We do not give medical advice,” Wagner said sternly, “we are not here to do any thing of that nature. But we are a reliable source of information on the variety of plants and products that customers may seek and do not know enough about.”
New Jersey laws are strict on cannabis business, as well as federal regulations that only allow purchases by cash or debit cards. Even then, the amount of funds and how they are obtained is also covered “from ground to customer,” with reports for the state filed at every level, a practice which also ensures the borough will receive the percentage of every sale the law dictates. “Transactions are carefully recorded literally from seed to sale,” Wagner said.
Signs make it clear persons must be 21 years of age or older and must present government ID before even getting through the front door to the Honorable Plant; Hours are clearly announced on the door and the unusually painted front of the building gives no indication of what is being sold inside.
Ample parking including several sites for handicapped parking, are on the side of the building, in front of the eye catching and colorful underwater scene complete with the octopus wearing a cap, the store’s logo. There’s a ramp for entry to accommodate wheel chairs and to avoid any steps.
The Honorable Plant will have a formal ribbon cutting and grand opening with the Mayor and members of council officiating at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 5, with outdoor events, food carts, refreshments and prizes and games as well as live music throughout the day from 11 am to 5pm and the dispensary, which opens at 8 a.m., will remain open until 10 p.m
