Regulators in Maryland have approved final cultivation licenses for eight medical cannabis cultivation companies and some expect to begin growing immediately, while others anticipate it will take weeks to begin cultivation, the Baltimore Sun reports. There are still six companies that have received preliminary licenses awaiting final approval.
Among those approved are Freestate Wellness, Curio Wellness, Temescal Wellness, Harvest of Maryland, Green Leaf Medical, HMS Health, Holisticm Grassroots of Maryland and Blair Wellness. ForwardGro, which will operate in Anne Arundel County, was granted the state’s first final license in May. Two other potential operators underwent final inspections on Monday.
Curio Wellness CEO and founder Michael Bronfein, who will operate out of a 46,000-square-foot warehouse in Timonium, indicated that in addition to medical cannabis cultivation, the company’s job is “to educate physicians, patients, regulators, [and] the community” on medical cannabis.
“This is strictly a wholesale manufacturing facility, so we will distribute across the state from this location, but there will be no retail sales here at all,” he said in a WBAL-11 report.
The state expects to license 102 total dispensaries, but thus far only one, the Wellness Institute of Maryland, has been awarded a final license.
In June, the Maryland Court of Appeals blocked Circuit Judge Barry Williams from holding a hearing that would have delayed the licensing process, which has been marred by conflict of interest claims over medical cannabis application reviewer industry ties, and favoritism. Williams is presiding over the case by minority-business owners who claim the licensing process didn’t follow racial equity provisions included in the legislation.
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