New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy recently visited Prolific Growhouse on May 30 to tour the facility, speak with founder David Nicolas about his journey as a business owner, and learn about the strain named after him.
During the tour, Nicolas showed Murphy various parts of the operation, including cultivation, processing, and packaging. Nicolas explained that he’s looking toward expanding his operation, since he doesn’t currently utilize all of the space he rents out. His plans include an increase in rooms for flowering plants and clones, an updated irrigation system, as well as packing rooms, “a vault,” and an employee break room, according to WHYY. “To finish this, we’ll need $700,000,” Nicolas said. “We were fortunate enough to get a NJEDA grant, which covered a small portion of it.”
Murphy signed the New Jersey Economic Act of 2020 into law in January 2021, which created a seven-year plan to provide $14 billion in “tax incentive, financing, and grant programs that will address the ongoing economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and build a stronger, fairer New Jersey economy.” The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) is the agency that manages such grants, with an overall mission to promote the state economy.
Nicolas is a first generation Haitian American and New Jersey native who sold cannabis to help his family. “I use cannabis to survive and pay bills,” Nicolas explained. “My mom, she had breast cancer [when] I was growing up. By the time I was 13, cannabis was the only way of putting food on the table.”
Later on, when attending Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, he was using medical cannabis personally, but also sharing its benefits with other students in need. He said that athletes would seek him out to obtain cannabis to help manage stress during their finals.
Unfortunately, in 2019 he …
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Author: Nicole Potter / High Times
