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Growing pot: Township OKs permit for facility to produce medical marijuana

Township OKs permit for facility to produce medical marijuana

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette In the background from left, Old Lycoming Township Supervisors Linda Mazzullo, John W. Eck and Sam Aungst listen as a township resident questions the safety and security of  the proposed Central PA Medgrow facility during a hearing Tuesday. MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Tiasha Machuga gives the strict qualification of those employees who will be working at the proposed Central PA Medgrow during the Old Lycoming Township hearing at the Old Lycoming Township Fire Co. Tuesday. MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Janet Hall, of Old Lycoming Township, questions the security of the proposed Central PA Medgrow facility during a hearing at the Old Lycoming Township Fire Co. Tuesday.

As the medical marijuana business spreads across the country, the Old Lycoming Township supervisors joined the competitive market Tuesday by approving a conditional-use permit for a medical marijuana manufacturing and growing facility.

The state’s Medical Marijuana Act — or Act 16 — was signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf on April 17, 2016, becoming the 24th state with a comprehensive medical marijuana program, according to the Marijuana Policy Project.

The proposed Central PA Medgrow LLC facility, at 3231 Lycoming Creek Road, hopes to be among the region’s two allowed locations to receive licenses from the state Department of Health to grow and manufacture medical marijuana products.

Along with 11 surrounding counties, Lycoming County is included in the northcentral portion of the department’s medical marijuana regions.

The northcentral region is allowed to grant two dispensary permits and two grower or processor permits, said Robert Malcomb, the company’s CEO.

Each permitted and licensed dispensary is allowed three locations, but each permitted processor or manufacturer is allowed one location, he said.

“The region is allowed two dispensary permits,” Malcomb said. “But that isn’t relevant. We aren’t applying for a dispensary, but for a manufacturing permit.”

The medical marijuana industry is one that is very strictly regulated by the state government.

“We are required by the state to track every seed, every flower and every leaf for four years,” Malcomb said.

But some residents at the public hearing were concerned about threats of theft because marijuana still is considered a Class 1 drug and that the transactions would be entirely cash-based because they, and the drug, also are regulated by the federal government.

Malcomb responded by saying the company only will produce smokeless marijuana products with low to no THC — the impairing chemical in marijuana — that will be made into pharmacy-grade products.

Central PA Medgrow LLC also already has spent $150,000 on security plans that include barbed wire fencing, over 100 security cameras and constant on-duty security.

There will be no customer sales. The company will deal with dispensaries exclusively.

Although the approval of the conditional-use permit is one of the first in the area, it will be highly competitive when growers and dispensaries begin to gain approval.

Central PA Medgrow LLC will join over 500 other applicants in the state hoping to do the same thing with only a dozen available spots when the state Department of Health begins approving them — 20 of them fighting for the two spots in the northcentral region alone.

“Twenty that we know of,” said Fred A. Holland, an attorney representing the company. “It’s very highly competitive.”

The state also requires at least 3 percent of profits a medical marijuana processor makes to go to charity or municipal enhancements, Malcomb said.

“And Central PA Medgrow intends to pay at least 3 percent,” he said.

Before voting unanimously on the permit, Supervisors John W. Eck, Sam Aungst and Linda Mazzullo attached conditions, including the company submit a security plan to the Old Lycoming Police Department for approval, the external lights not leave the premises and the fence be placed as close to the facility as possible to ensure no disturbances of residential properties close by.

“The state has put together a set of tight regulations on this industry,” Eck said, explaining the vote. “Probably unlike any other industry … even more than most banks.”

When the township supervisors began looking at and studying the issue, they learned a lot about how seriously regulated the industry is.

“One thing to remember is this isn’t a dispensary,” Eck said. “You can’t just walk in there just to browse. These are such tight regulations on the grower, on the dispensary and on the doctors specifically certified to write prescriptions.”

Mazzullo invited the public to the township office, 1951 Green Ave., to view the regulations.

“What alleviated my concerns is looking at those state regulations,” Mazzullo said. “I feel very safe about it and think something like this can do a lot for our township.”

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