Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
Philadelphia - Seated three rows back in a breakout session on medical marijuana research Friday at St. Joseph's University - alongside hospital officials, marijuana industry leaders and legal experts - was David Kimmerly, a senior planner with the city of Allentown.
No, he doesn't moonlight as a doctor, or a research scientist.
Kimmerly was attending Medical Marijuana Regulatory-Palooza - a forum sponsored by Montgomery County Sen. Daylin Leach - because some of the companies hoping to set up medical marijuana production or distribution facilities are considering the Lehigh Valley, including Allentown.
"The city of Allentown is viewing this as a potential economic development possibility," Kimmerly told participants at the session, designed to provide feedback to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, which is now writing regulations to implement the state's new medical marijuana law.
The city's concern is that the newly minted industry could be a boom or bust proposition, carrying the risk that a flurry of medical marijuana-related development could fizzle, leaving a smattering of vacant marijuana processing and dispensing facilities.
Several participants in the session told Kimmerly that, as with any startup industry, there will be companies that flame out early on.
Kimmerly said he knows there is some public queasiness about legalized marijuana, even for strictly medical reasons. But he stressed that Pennsylvania's law puts a lot of restrictions on its use, including prohibiting smoking marijuana, even as a medical treatment.
For a city like Allentown with a number of vacant factories and other buildings, it could have promise, he said.
And Allentown wasn't the only municipality in attendance. The crowd included a Philadelphia city councilman and zoning officials from Reading and Harrisburg, among others.
Pennsylvania legalized medical marijuana earlier this year, offering patients access to a new treatment, but also creating a wealth of commercial opportunities for growers and processors, marijuana dispensaries and research institutions.
The high level of interest was evident Friday. Leach's Palooza event was overbooked, enrolling more than 300 people, with participants standing around the edges of some sessions, including the event's opening remarks.
Session participants included growers and processors from other states, attorneys representing companies looking to get into the business, software developers producing computer products for the industry, consultants, marketing professionals and health care institutions.
Kimmerly said the city hasn't received any detailed development proposals from medical marijuana businesses, but the Allentown and Lehigh Valley economic development corporations have been approached by grower/processors scouting locations.
The state's municipal planning code doesn't address medical marijuana, Kimmerly said, so the city has been considering its own set of regulations, based on language in state law that says such facilities should be treated like other manufacturers or commercial entities.
The new law keeps operations at least 1,000 feet from schools and day care centers.
"We've been sitting down and talking about what to do about medical marijuana for several months," Kimmerly said.
Cities could use some guidance, said Craig Peiffer, Reading's zoning administrator.
"We definitely need help on writing this because we are completely clueless on how to regulate this," he said.
With multiple levels of government to navigate, industry representatives urged the Health Department to detail state and local regulatory responsibilities when it completes preliminary regulations later this year, and provide local officials with detailed information.
Technical, scientific issues should probably be left to the state Department of Health, representatives said.
"In your regulations, I urge you to delineate the responsibilities between locals and the state," said Jeremy Unruh, general counsel and chief compliance officer with PharmaCann, an Illinois-based medical marijuana company.
Local government's best role is determining the proper location for facilities, governing the general manner in which they operate and gauging neighbors' feelings about living near a marijuana business, he said.
"As a cultivator and dispenser, I don't want to be in a neighborhood that doesn't want to have us there," Unruh said. Local acceptance or support should be considered as part of the state's application process for a limited number of permits, he said, but not over-weighted.
In other states, it hasn't been uncommon to find plenty of "not in my backyard" sentiment, said Jill Lamoureux, a nationally recognized marijuana industry expert and CEO of Trellis Research Group consulting.
Leach, who pushed for medical marijuana legalization, plans to supply the Department of Health with testimony from the event to help in the crafting of regulations that will eventually make medical marijuana produced here available to patients in Pennsylvania.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Allentown, Others Eyeing Economic Potential Of Medical Marijuana
Author: Scott Kraus
Contact: The Morning Call
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Website: The Morning Call
No, he doesn't moonlight as a doctor, or a research scientist.
Kimmerly was attending Medical Marijuana Regulatory-Palooza - a forum sponsored by Montgomery County Sen. Daylin Leach - because some of the companies hoping to set up medical marijuana production or distribution facilities are considering the Lehigh Valley, including Allentown.
"The city of Allentown is viewing this as a potential economic development possibility," Kimmerly told participants at the session, designed to provide feedback to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, which is now writing regulations to implement the state's new medical marijuana law.
The city's concern is that the newly minted industry could be a boom or bust proposition, carrying the risk that a flurry of medical marijuana-related development could fizzle, leaving a smattering of vacant marijuana processing and dispensing facilities.
Several participants in the session told Kimmerly that, as with any startup industry, there will be companies that flame out early on.
Kimmerly said he knows there is some public queasiness about legalized marijuana, even for strictly medical reasons. But he stressed that Pennsylvania's law puts a lot of restrictions on its use, including prohibiting smoking marijuana, even as a medical treatment.
For a city like Allentown with a number of vacant factories and other buildings, it could have promise, he said.
And Allentown wasn't the only municipality in attendance. The crowd included a Philadelphia city councilman and zoning officials from Reading and Harrisburg, among others.
Pennsylvania legalized medical marijuana earlier this year, offering patients access to a new treatment, but also creating a wealth of commercial opportunities for growers and processors, marijuana dispensaries and research institutions.
The high level of interest was evident Friday. Leach's Palooza event was overbooked, enrolling more than 300 people, with participants standing around the edges of some sessions, including the event's opening remarks.
Session participants included growers and processors from other states, attorneys representing companies looking to get into the business, software developers producing computer products for the industry, consultants, marketing professionals and health care institutions.
Kimmerly said the city hasn't received any detailed development proposals from medical marijuana businesses, but the Allentown and Lehigh Valley economic development corporations have been approached by grower/processors scouting locations.
The state's municipal planning code doesn't address medical marijuana, Kimmerly said, so the city has been considering its own set of regulations, based on language in state law that says such facilities should be treated like other manufacturers or commercial entities.
The new law keeps operations at least 1,000 feet from schools and day care centers.
"We've been sitting down and talking about what to do about medical marijuana for several months," Kimmerly said.
Cities could use some guidance, said Craig Peiffer, Reading's zoning administrator.
"We definitely need help on writing this because we are completely clueless on how to regulate this," he said.
With multiple levels of government to navigate, industry representatives urged the Health Department to detail state and local regulatory responsibilities when it completes preliminary regulations later this year, and provide local officials with detailed information.
Technical, scientific issues should probably be left to the state Department of Health, representatives said.
"In your regulations, I urge you to delineate the responsibilities between locals and the state," said Jeremy Unruh, general counsel and chief compliance officer with PharmaCann, an Illinois-based medical marijuana company.
Local government's best role is determining the proper location for facilities, governing the general manner in which they operate and gauging neighbors' feelings about living near a marijuana business, he said.
"As a cultivator and dispenser, I don't want to be in a neighborhood that doesn't want to have us there," Unruh said. Local acceptance or support should be considered as part of the state's application process for a limited number of permits, he said, but not over-weighted.
In other states, it hasn't been uncommon to find plenty of "not in my backyard" sentiment, said Jill Lamoureux, a nationally recognized marijuana industry expert and CEO of Trellis Research Group consulting.
Leach, who pushed for medical marijuana legalization, plans to supply the Department of Health with testimony from the event to help in the crafting of regulations that will eventually make medical marijuana produced here available to patients in Pennsylvania.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Allentown, Others Eyeing Economic Potential Of Medical Marijuana
Author: Scott Kraus
Contact: The Morning Call
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Website: The Morning Call
