Here Are Pa.’s First Permitted Medical Marijuana Growers
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The Department of Health announced the recipients of the state’s first 12 permits for medical marijuana growers this afternoon.
Two permits were awarded in each of the state’s 12 regions. In the Southeastern region, recipients are Franklin Labs LLC and Prime Wellness of Pennsylvania. Both organizations will operate out of Berks County.
Franklin Labs, which has proposed a facility in Reading, owns one of the largest medical cannabis operations in Colorado and is affiliated with Garden State Dispensary, a major medical marijuana producer in New Jersey.
Among Franklin Labs’ executives is John Hanger, who served as Gov. Tom Wolf‘s former secretary of Policy and Planning, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and commissioner of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. The organization’s chief security officer, Paul Higdon, worked for the Drug Enforcement Agency and INTERPOL, the world’s largest police organization.
Little information was immediately available on the other permit recipient, Prime Wellness of Pennsylvania – except that the organization is looking to operate out of an industrial park in Sinking Spring and reportedly has branches in Connecticut, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
The Pa. Office of Medical Marijuana received 177 applications for growers/processors, which were reviewed by an evaluation team comprised of members from various commonwealth agencies.
The state will have to inspect and deem the various facilities as operational before permittees will be able to grow and process medical marijuana. John Collins, director of the Pa. Office of Medical Marijuana, said the department is on track to fulfill the Wolf Administration’s promise to deliver medical marijuana to patients in 2018.
The state will also issue 27 dispensary permits; those will be announced next week. Additional grower permits will be issued in the future, which will bring the total to 25.
State law allows patients with one or more of 17 qualified medical conditions (including epilepsy, cancer, seizure disorders or multiple sclerosis) to apply for a medical marijuana card.
Here is the full list of permitted medical marijuana growers announced today:
Southeast Region
Prime Wellness of Pennsylvania, LLC
Franklin Labs, LLC
Northeast Region
Pennsylvania Medical Solutions, LLC
Standard Farms, LLC
Southcentral Region
Ilera Healthcare, LLC
AES Compassionate Care, LLC
Northcentral Region
Terrapin Investment Fund 1, LLC
GTI Pennsylvania, LLC
Southwest Region
AGRiMED Industries of PA, LLC
PurePenn, LLC
Northwest Region
Holistic Farms, LLC
Cresco Yeltrah, LLC
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