Ron Strider
Well-Known Member
The clock is ticking on Kevin Murphy and his company, Prime Wellness of Pennsylvania.
Murphy – who says he wants to run for governor of Connecticut and heads up one of the largest medical marijuana companies in the nation – expressed confidence that his company can beat the clock.
To do so, it has to get a 30,000-square-foot growing facility approved, built and operating by December, which is the state deadline.
After the medical marijuana law was adopted in Pennsylvania, the commonwealth was divided into six regions, each of which would be allowed two licenses for growing/processing facilities.
In June, both the licenses for the southeast region – which includes Philadelphia, Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Montgomery and Schuylkill counties – were awarded to facilities in Berks County just a few miles from each other.
One, Franklin Labs LLC, has plans to operate its grow facility out of a former Pepsi distribution center on Centre Avenue in the City of Reading that closed last year.
The other licenses was won by Prime Wellness, which has selected an undeveloped site at 2 Corporate Blvd. in South Heidelberg Township on the western end of the county.
One of the requirements of keeping the license is that the facility be growing and producing cannabis products within six months of receiving the license.
"It's an aggressive schedule, but we're confident we can do it," said James Doherty, a Scranton attorney who was part of the Prime Wellness team that met with about 75 residents at a town hall meeting held at Conrad Weiser Middle School July 25.
Confident or not, it will be tight.
As of Tuesday's meeting, Prime Wellness had met informally with the South Heidelberg Township Planning Commission but had made no formal land development or site plan submission, said Township Manager Sean A. McKee.
McKee also said that Prime Wellness must obtain a special exception from the township's zoning hearing board as well as a size variance given that the company plans to build a 30,000-square-foot building and the new joint zoning ordinance covering medical marijuana facilities limits building size to 20,000 square feet.
In the second phase, Doherty said, Prime Wellness would aim to build another 25,000 square-foot extension onto the existing building.
Additionally, the project must receive both preliminary and final site plan approval from the planning commission and from the three-member board of supervisors.
"They would probably have to go for preliminary/final site plan approval at the same time" to meet the December deadline, McKee said, adding, "That's been done before."
Although Prime Wellness expressed confidence, Geoff Whaling had some questions.
Whaling, a Berks County resident, is a longtime medical marijuana advocate and the face of Bunker Botanicals – an enterprise that had hoped to win one of the region's two state licenses to grow the plants in an underground bunker in Lower Pottsgrove.
Noting that Murphy and Prime Wellness had made a number of promises to the community about financial help, hiring local workers at living wages and charitable contributions, Whaling asked, "Considering you have to go through the zoning and planning process and haven't begun construction, how are you going to live up to those obligations by December?"
Murphy, who took the opportunity to refer to Whaling as "first loser" in the license process, replied that his company had overcome obstacles in Maine, as well as at facilities in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Florida, Maryland, Illinois, Oregon, California and Pennsylvania.
"I know what it's like to spend a lot of money," said Murphy, a former financier who got involved in the medical marijuana business after retiring in 2008.
"We made an outsized bet on Pennsylvania and spent well over $1 million on this application, but we're not foolish with our dollars," Murphy said. "We will be delivering cannabis in December and that's a fact."
All of the other speakers at Tuesday's town hall meeting either thanked Prime Wellness for its openness, had questions about security and the operation, or asked how quickly they or people they knew could get the medicine the facility will produce.
Murphy, who said he was a skeptic when first approached about medical marijuana, said he has done "a 180."
Medical marijuana will be "the silver bullet for medicine for the next 100 years," he said, and he praised Pennsylvania for being the first state to allow the involvement of university hospitals for research.
"That's why Pennsylvania was a must-win state for us," Murphy said. "We are saving lives, and that's a fact. But up until now, the evidence has been anecdotal."
The involvement of university-level research will provide the scientific evidence so many in the medical community require, he said.
"Education is paramount," and that applies in particular to doctors who may be leery of medical marijuana products, Murphy said.
Doctors turn to pharmaceuticals "because they're predictable. They know the outcome, they know the risks," he said.
The challenge for medical marijuana, Murphy said, is to provide that same level of predictability, and that will require education.
"We're a for-profit business, but you should also know we're in this to help patients," he said.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Berks County marijuana grower racing the clock to meet state deadline
Author: Evan Brandt
Contact: Contact Us
Photo Credit: Harmony Foundation
Website: The Times Herald: Breaking News, Sports, Business, Entertainment & Montgomery County News
Murphy – who says he wants to run for governor of Connecticut and heads up one of the largest medical marijuana companies in the nation – expressed confidence that his company can beat the clock.
To do so, it has to get a 30,000-square-foot growing facility approved, built and operating by December, which is the state deadline.
After the medical marijuana law was adopted in Pennsylvania, the commonwealth was divided into six regions, each of which would be allowed two licenses for growing/processing facilities.
In June, both the licenses for the southeast region – which includes Philadelphia, Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Montgomery and Schuylkill counties – were awarded to facilities in Berks County just a few miles from each other.
One, Franklin Labs LLC, has plans to operate its grow facility out of a former Pepsi distribution center on Centre Avenue in the City of Reading that closed last year.
The other licenses was won by Prime Wellness, which has selected an undeveloped site at 2 Corporate Blvd. in South Heidelberg Township on the western end of the county.
One of the requirements of keeping the license is that the facility be growing and producing cannabis products within six months of receiving the license.
"It's an aggressive schedule, but we're confident we can do it," said James Doherty, a Scranton attorney who was part of the Prime Wellness team that met with about 75 residents at a town hall meeting held at Conrad Weiser Middle School July 25.
Confident or not, it will be tight.
As of Tuesday's meeting, Prime Wellness had met informally with the South Heidelberg Township Planning Commission but had made no formal land development or site plan submission, said Township Manager Sean A. McKee.
McKee also said that Prime Wellness must obtain a special exception from the township's zoning hearing board as well as a size variance given that the company plans to build a 30,000-square-foot building and the new joint zoning ordinance covering medical marijuana facilities limits building size to 20,000 square feet.
In the second phase, Doherty said, Prime Wellness would aim to build another 25,000 square-foot extension onto the existing building.
Additionally, the project must receive both preliminary and final site plan approval from the planning commission and from the three-member board of supervisors.
"They would probably have to go for preliminary/final site plan approval at the same time" to meet the December deadline, McKee said, adding, "That's been done before."
Although Prime Wellness expressed confidence, Geoff Whaling had some questions.
Whaling, a Berks County resident, is a longtime medical marijuana advocate and the face of Bunker Botanicals – an enterprise that had hoped to win one of the region's two state licenses to grow the plants in an underground bunker in Lower Pottsgrove.
Noting that Murphy and Prime Wellness had made a number of promises to the community about financial help, hiring local workers at living wages and charitable contributions, Whaling asked, "Considering you have to go through the zoning and planning process and haven't begun construction, how are you going to live up to those obligations by December?"
Murphy, who took the opportunity to refer to Whaling as "first loser" in the license process, replied that his company had overcome obstacles in Maine, as well as at facilities in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Florida, Maryland, Illinois, Oregon, California and Pennsylvania.
"I know what it's like to spend a lot of money," said Murphy, a former financier who got involved in the medical marijuana business after retiring in 2008.
"We made an outsized bet on Pennsylvania and spent well over $1 million on this application, but we're not foolish with our dollars," Murphy said. "We will be delivering cannabis in December and that's a fact."
All of the other speakers at Tuesday's town hall meeting either thanked Prime Wellness for its openness, had questions about security and the operation, or asked how quickly they or people they knew could get the medicine the facility will produce.
Murphy, who said he was a skeptic when first approached about medical marijuana, said he has done "a 180."
Medical marijuana will be "the silver bullet for medicine for the next 100 years," he said, and he praised Pennsylvania for being the first state to allow the involvement of university hospitals for research.
"That's why Pennsylvania was a must-win state for us," Murphy said. "We are saving lives, and that's a fact. But up until now, the evidence has been anecdotal."
The involvement of university-level research will provide the scientific evidence so many in the medical community require, he said.
"Education is paramount," and that applies in particular to doctors who may be leery of medical marijuana products, Murphy said.
Doctors turn to pharmaceuticals "because they're predictable. They know the outcome, they know the risks," he said.
The challenge for medical marijuana, Murphy said, is to provide that same level of predictability, and that will require education.
"We're a for-profit business, but you should also know we're in this to help patients," he said.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Berks County marijuana grower racing the clock to meet state deadline
Author: Evan Brandt
Contact: Contact Us
Photo Credit: Harmony Foundation
Website: The Times Herald: Breaking News, Sports, Business, Entertainment & Montgomery County News