CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — The sun set early on Sunset Hills Medical’s plans to build a large medical marijuana grow facility in Clarion with an announcement last week from the office of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf.
Grower/processor permits were issued to 13 entities for Phase II of the Medical Marijuana Program, and Clarion was not one of them. The Clarion site proposed by Sunset Hills Medical LLC, with a planned location within the Glassworks Business Park at the former Owens-Illinois Glass Plant, was in the Northwest Region.
“Sunset Hills Medical is deeply disappointed we didn’t receive the grower/processor permit, but we are awaiting word from the Department of Health to see if we are awarded a dispensary license,” said Mike Barley, a spokesperson for Sunset Hills. “We are still hopeful and excited about the possibility to work with Clarion County.”
Sunset Hills Medical, based in Butler, submitted a separate application for a dispensary license and had already purchased the former Clarion Clipper property along State Route 68. Approval for dispensary licenses requires a separate action.
The sites were evaluated and ranked by the state, with each section receiving points.
Calypso Enterprises, LLC of Erie and FarmaceuticalRx, LLC of Farrell were the two selected for the Northwest Region. Two were awarded in each of six districts plus an additional one for the highest scoring applicant, PennAlt Organics Inc.
Out of a possible 100 points, Calypso earned 792.7500 and FarmaceuticalRx, LLC recorded 765.7500. Sunset Hills scored 632.2500 points.
Sunset Hills Medical, LLC Chief Operating Officer Kurt Baugmartel
The two winning companies are from larger counties and have some history with the industry.
Calypso of Erie will grow and process marijuana on the former Hammermill Paper Company property on Erie’s east side, located in what was formerly known as the south yard at East 10th Street and Downing Avenue.
Although Calypso’s initial application was denied during Phase I in 2017, the company re-applied in early 2018 and was approved. The company received the third highest score of all of the applicants – earning 792.75 points out of 1000 possible points.
FarmaceuticalRx also has some pretty big “guns” behind its operation. The company is a spinoff company handpicked by the University of Pittsburgh’s LifeX initiative. LifeX is headed by its founder Dietrich Stephan, Ph.D., a professor and chairman of Pitt’s Department of Human Genetics.
According to the company’s website, FarmaceuticalRx LLC was formed in 2017 and “will provide expertise, capital, and working space to new companies addressing the most complex challenges facing modern medicine.”
“In Phase I of the program, we built a framework to give patients access to medical marijuana,” Pa. Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said. “In this next phase, Phase II, we are fully implementing the program to expand access to this medication to every part of the state. This medication is vital to Pennsylvanians suffering from one of the 21 serious medical conditions allowed under the law, and we need to ensure they have access to it close to their homes.”
More than 52,000 patients have registered to participate in the state’s medical marijuana program, and more than 30,000 of those patients have received their identification cards and can visit a dispensary to purchase medical marijuana. More than 1,000 physicians have registered for the program and, of those, more than 700 have been approved as practitioners.
The Medical Marijuana Program was signed into law by Governor Tom Wolf on April 17, 2016. Since that time, the department has:
- Completed temporary regulations for growers/processors, dispensaries, physicians, patients, and laboratories, all of which have been published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin;
- Issued Phase I permits to grower/processors and dispensaries;
- Developed the Medical Marijuana Physician Workgroup;
- Convened the Medical Marijuana Advisory Board;
- Approved six training providers for physician continuing-education;
- Approved four laboratories to test this medication before it is delivered to patients;
- Launched registries for patients and caregivers, as well as practitioners;
- Registered more than 52,000 patients for the program;
- Approved 29 dispensaries and 12 grower/processors to begin operations;
- Continued to work with permittees to ensure they will be operational; and
- Issued Phase II permit applications for dispensaries; and
- Issued Phase II permits to grower/processors.
The Medical Marijuana Program offers medical marijuana to patients who are residents of Pennsylvania and under a practitioner’s care for the treatment of a serious medical condition as defined by the Medical Marijuana Law.
The state has also approved 29 dispensaries. The sale of dry leaf forms of medical marijuana started Aug. 1 and will be phased in at 16 dispensaries. Dry leaf medical marijuana will be available 28 locations this week.
