Eight Pennsylvania cultivators approved to begin growing medical cannabis

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Pennsylvania regulators have given the go-ahead to eight cultivators to begin growing medical marijuana, putting sales on track to begin in 2018.

Once the product is ready, dispensaries should have plenty of customers to buy it, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The governor’s office said that more than 10,000 patients have signed up for the program, according to the newspaper.

Here’s what you need to know:

  • Nearly 1,200 of the total registered patients have been certified by a doctor to receive a recommendation for MMJ.
  • No Pennsylvania dispensaries have opened yet.
  • 250 doctors have been approved to recommend MMJ.
  • Smokable products are not allowed in Pennsylvania, but the state’s growers are permitted to manufacture oils, pills, vapor and tinctures.

The eight cultivators approved to begin growing:

  • Cresco Yeltrah (Jefferson County)
  • Franklin Labs (Berks)
  • GTI Pennsylvania (Montour)
  • Ilera Healthcare (Fulton)
  • Pennsylvania Medical Solutions (Lackawanna)
  • PurePenn LLC (Allegheny)
  • Standard Farms (Luzerne)
  • Terrapin Investment Fund (Clinton)

Additional cultivators are expected to be approved by mid-March, The Inquirer reported.

Four growers/processors are in the final stage of the approval process, a state regulators told the newspaper.