A lack of stock that has forced several Pennsylvania medical marijuana dispensaries to close temporarily or modify hours won’t change the opening of Lancaster County’s dispensary.
Cure Pennsylvania will open its Manheim Township store for appointments only Wednesday and Thursday before opening to walk-in customers Friday.
Two dispensaries in the Philadelphia region ran out of medicine last week, less than two weeks after the state’s medical marijuana program began, according to Philly.com.
TerraVida Holistic Center in Bucks County is running on modified hours. Keystone Shop in Devon, is closed until further notice, according to the businesses’ websites.
The shortage does not surprise Ryan Smith, director of operations at the Lancaster County dispensary.
“We anticipated this shortage of medicine several months ago,” Smith said in an email. “That is why we decided to hold off opening until next week rather than opening in mid-February.”
“We anticipate having enough medicine in-stock and additional deliveries the week of 3/12-3/16 to be able to continuously provide medicine to patients staring 3/7,” he said.
Only one of the state’s 12 licensed wholesalers is shipping to dispensaries, which is contributing to the the shortage of stock, according to the Associated Press. More crops are expected in late March.
Another factor is patient interest. An owner of TerraVida told Philly.com that the business expected 60 patients during its first month but had over 600 in its first eight days.
