The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Thursday announced the approval of 27 permits for medical marijuana dispensaries in the state, including one in the State College area.
PA Health & Wellness LLC was granted a permit, listing the primary dispensary location as 2105 N. Atherton St. Located in Patton Township, the property is the former site of El Jalisco restaurant and the old site of Otto’s Pub.
The new permit holders have six months to become operational before they can begin dispensing marijuana. Dispensary permit holders may have up to three locations, but PA Health & Wellness lists only the North Atherton Street location.
“This has been a highly competitive process and the department received hundreds of quality applications,” said John Collins, director of the Office of Medical Marijuana, said in a statement. “Once this program is fully operational, patients with serious medical conditions will have locations throughout the commonwealth where they can purchase medication to help in their treatment. We remain on track to provide medication to patients in 2018.”
Six regions were established in the site for granting dispensary and grower-processor permits, with two each available for the Northcentral Region that includes Centre County. The other dispensary permit for the region announced Thursday was granted to Keystone Center of Integrative Wellness, LLC in Lycoming County.
Grower-processor permits were issued last week. For the Northcentral region, permits were approved for companies in Clinton and Montour counties.
PA Health & Wellness LLC’s application lists a principal address as the office of the DePaul Group in Philadelphia. Partner Tony DePaul was not immediately available for comment.
According to a report earlier this month by PennLive.com, PA Health & Wellness LLC is a partnership among DePaul, fellow Philadelphia area businessman Austin Meehan and Nature’s Medicine, an Arizona-based medical marijuana company.
A panel of experts from a number of areas reviewed and scored applications to determine who would get a permit. Applicants were required to meet a series of stringent operational, financial and security requirements.
Dispensary applicants must provide an initial $5,000 non-refundable fee; a permit fee of $30,000 that will be refunded of the permit isn’t granted;and proof of $150,000 in capital
Applicants for either grower-processor permits or dispensary permits also must provide federal and state criminal background checks; a statement of good moral character; information on how they will maintain security and control; and a diversity plan. They also must participate in a two-hour training course.
Once approved, both grower-processors and dispensaries will be subject to strict rules including required electronic tracking of inventory connected to a a Department of Health database that will track product from the time it is grown to when it is sold to a patient or caregiver.
