On Monday, Maryland’s medical marijuana regulators approved final licenses for eight cannabis companies, allowing them to begin growing the drug. This is another big step for the battle of mass legalization and for any marijuana stocks operating in Maryland.
A number of companies report they are ready to start growing now, while others state they will need some time to begin.
“Now, we have a real industry,” stated Cary Millstein, CEO of newly licensed grower Freestate Wellness in Howard County.
Up until Monday, only one of the 15 selected companies had received the final consent to begin growing medical cannabis, which was first legalized in Maryland in 2013. Despite being at full capacity, one firm could not produce enough to support 102 planned dispensaries.
Marijuana industry research group New Frontier predicts Maryland’s market will be valued at $221 million annually by 2021.
Curio Wellness of Baltimore County, which also received its license Monday, has been patiently waiting for more than two months for final consent to bring marijuana into its nine high-tech, climate-controlled growing chambers in a 56,000-square-foot Timonium warehouse.
“As with any start up industry, you’re bound to have bumps in the road,” Curio CEO Michael Bronfein reported in a recent interview.
The last-minute approvals come off the tail of a rocky start to an industry that has been affected by lawsuits, controversy and delays.
There are two cases that are under review by State courts that say Maryland regulators did not properly choose which companies could cultivate cannabis, and state lawmakers have pondered issuing additional licenses to ensure some go to firms owned by African-Americans, who currently don’t own any of the 15 firms selected for preliminary growing licenses.
Meanwhile, patients have been waiting. As of Monday, 12,000 people had signed up to become eligible for medical marijuana and 400 medical providers had signed up to prescribe it to them.
Brian Lopez just got elected as chairman of the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission reported there was still work to be completed to bring online the rest of the growers and all the marijuana processors and dispensaries wishing to open across Maryland.
Brian Lopez, the newly appointed chairman of the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission, said there was still a lot work to be done to bring online the remaining growers and all of the marijuana processors and dispensaries hoping to open across the state. Only one dispensary, in Frederick, is licensed. Over 100 others are pending.
Monday was the last day for companies to be operational, or run the risk of losing their licenses. There are nine companies that now have permission to cultivate medical cannabis. An additional two went through final inspections on Monday.
The commission’s executive director Patrick Jameson reported the panel would consider whether to give extensions to those companies on Aug. 28.
Jameson reported he believed having difficulties with local zoning laws was a legit reason to look for an extension, though failing to raise capital or else execute a business plan was not.
The commission also approved the state’s first marijuana processors Monday, permitting final licenses to four firms, three of which will also grow cannabis.
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