The state Office of Medical Cannabis is continuing to move forward with approving applications for medical marijuana businesses with hopes of having dispensaries open in the spring.
Officials earlier this month approved applications for medical cannabis processors, which will use the plants to create pills, creams and other products for medical use, as well as prepare the plants to be used in a dry leaf form.
“It will be a fairly labor-intensive process,” Office Director Jason Frame said. “They’re using chemical processes and physical processes to extract certain parts of these plants for medicinal use.
While the 10 approved processors have offices in West Virginia, some companies have experience in other areas.
“It makes it more likely to be successful in this line of work,” Frame noted. “Many of them do have experience in this profession in other states.”
The office approved grower applications in October. Frame said the office is aiming to approve dispensary applications by the end of the year. He added officials will approve up to 100 dispensary applications.
“It could be an existing business. However, if they choose to employ that method, the dispensary would have to be completely separate from the existing business all the way down to a separate entrance,” he said.
Frame added the timeline to have businesses accept customers is dependent on how quickly growers, processors and dispensaries can prepare products, but he is hopeful sales will begin in the late spring.