Maryland MMJ Applicant Seals Research Partnership With Hospital

A medical marijuana enterprise seeking a cultivation license in Maryland will partner with a local hospital on cannabis research.

Peak Harvest Health announced it will work on cannabis research with the Western Maryland Health System in Cumberland, Maryland. Peak will leverage the partnership to conduct clinical trials at its planned facility, according to the Baltimore Business Journal.

The company is under contract for a 170,000-square-foot cultivation plant in Cumberland, which the company will use if it receives one of the 15 cultivation licenses up for grabs in Maryland. Winners will be announced this summer.

Western Maryland Health CEO Barry Ronan told the Baltimore Business Journal that the hospital treated an estimated 2,200 patients last year who had cancer, chronic pain and other conditions that could have been relieved by medical marijuana.

Peak also announced in December it would partner with Frostburg State University on medical marijuana research and cannabis workforce training.

Whether the partnerships will help the company’s chances of winning one of the coveted cultivation licenses in Maryland is yet to be seen, but the moves certainly can’t hurt its chances.