Maui Wellness Group dispensary, headed by Dr. Gregory Park, has entered its final stages of permitting to begin growing marijuana. The group plans to open its doors and start selling medical marijuana in January.
Maui Wellness Group has secured an 1,800 sq. ft. building for its operations, Maui News reports. The final approval must be given by the Department of Health before the group can start cultivating.
An estimated date of approval has not been provided to Maui Wellness Group yet, and Freitas Gorman, director of community relations and public affairs for the business said, “we are ready to begin cultivation, and we have been ready for quite some time.”
The dispensary plans to educate patients and has composed a slideshow regarding the history of marijuana and statistics. The slideshow also includes information regarding the dispensary’s plans for the future. The company hopes to expand its 11-person workforce to 25 or 30 when cultivation begins, which will open up employment opportunities for cultivation, processing, packaging, security, education and selling.
Gorman said, “Our mission is very much education driven. Both education with medical professionals, as well as patients, their families and caregivers. Product safety and public safety are top priorities. We’re really endeavoring to provide equitable access to medical cannabis in full compliance with regulations, and there are many.”
The dispensary will only offer marijuana flower at first, but has plans to add topicals, tinctures, lozenges, nebulizers, oils, and lotions to its product line in the near future.
Gorman said, “A lot of our older patients in particular do not like to smoke, so we like to offer a lot of alternatives. Many of these applications that are topical have a zero psychoactive effect, so you can get relief without it.”
The dispensary will be in a spa-like setting to make patients feel more comfortable.
Their entire production process is solar-powered. Utility costs are a concern for the dispensary as Gorman mentioned: “If we tapped into the grid, we would have cost-prohibitive prices for patients, so we’re really trying to tap into the power of the sun.”
Without putting the horse before the cart, Gorman summed up their process by saying, “We’re mostly concerned with getting our cultivation started at this point, but at the appropriate time we’ll be reaching out to the labs.”
The group was awarded the highest application score out of all of the marijuana business applications received in Hawaii.