The state medical marijuana program added nearly 5,000 new participants in 2016, more than doubling the enrollment from the prior year and exceeding 10,000 active members for the first time, according to state Health Department report.

More chronically ill and impaired citizens flocked to the program in 2016 just as five dispensaries scattered about the state were open for a full year, and one started producing topical and edible products.

The pace and reach of the program has been a source of frustration among patients and patient advocates who blamed Gov. Chris Christie for purposely dragging out the implementation of a 2010 law the governor inherited and criticized.

On Wednesday, dozens of patients testified before a medical advisory panel asking that the program expand to include more diseases to reach more people for whom traditional medicine has failed to help. Health Commissioner Cathleen Bennett is expected to decide during the summer whether to add new medical conditions.

Here's a look at how the program has grown and changed in the last year:

The five state-licensed alternative treatment centers, also known as dispensaries, sold 2,694 pounds of cannabis in 2016, according to report.

Compassionate Sciences in Bellmawr produced the most cannabis and served the greatest number of patients, at 885 pounds and 2,762 enrollees, respectively.

Garden State Dispensary in Woodbridge, whose grow room before its November 2013 opening is seen in this photo, was the second largest seller at 691 pounds to 2,687 people.

Breakwater in Cranbury dispensed 494 pounds to 2,068 people; Compassionate Care Foundation in Egg Harbor sold 451 pounds to 1,527 people; and Greenleaf Compassion Center in Montclair sold 172.5 pounds to 1,288 patients.

Patients may buy no more than 2 ounces of dried cannabis a month, although their physicians may recommend less.

The dispensaries collectively cultivate 128 strains of marijuana, each known for its benefits, such as reducing seizures and muscle spasms, controlling pain, reducing eye pressure from glaucoma or improving appetite.

The health department did not disclose how much of the topical products and edible oils Compassionate Sciences sold.

Doctors may only recommend patients to the program who are suffering from at least one of the "qualifying" diseases allowed under the law.

The most common medical condition among medical marijuana patients is intractable skeletal spasticity, affecting nearly 39 percent of all 12,514 patients who have registered since the program began in late 2012. (Some 1,470 patients have since died.)

Patients with cancer or HIV/AIDS and reported severe or chronic pain made up 24 percent of the participants; 10.25 percent were diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease; 8 percent had multiple sclerosis; 6.6 percent had terminal cancer; 5.23 percent had a seizure disorder; 2.67 had post traumatic stress disorder; 1.7 percent each had glaucoma and a terminal illness, and less than one percent had lateral sclerosis and muscular dystrophy. 

No patients have had their registry identification cards revoked by the state, according to the report. The program has rejected 613 applicants, including 215 last year.

There are 10,799 patients who are active in the program.

There are also 543 active caregivers – people who undergo screening in order to retrieve the marijuana from the dispensary on a patient's behalf.

Patients are not allowed to apply directly to the program. A physician who is treating them or who are at least familiar with the patient's case must recommend them.

There are roughly 28,000 registered physicians in New Jersey, yet only 517 have volunteered to enroll in the medicinal marijuana physician registry since 2012.

The New Jersey Medical Society, a lobbying group for doctors, has said most of its members are leery to get involved with what is still deemed illegal by the federal government. Its illegal status also prevents government research. 

In 2016, just 309 were "executing certifications for parents," according to the report. The largest percentage were internists, family practitioners and specialists.

The state has rejected 12 doctors who applied to the program since 2012, although the report did not specify why.

Although the state tacks on 7 percent sales tax with every cannabis purchase, Treasury officials have declined to say how much revenue the program generates to protect the confidentiality of the few state-sanctioned dispensaries.

The state collected $881,358 in identification card fees from patients and caregivers and permits for dispensaries.

The program has a budget of $1.7 million.