Maryland’s Medical Cannabis Commission on Monday unveiled the names of the 15 cultivators and 15 processors who won preliminary approval to secure licenses, marking another step forward for the state’s medical marijuana program.
Maryland received 145 grower applications, 124 processor applications and 811 dispensary license applications. Dispensary winners – two for each of the state’s 47 senatorial districts plus potentially one for each of the preliminary cultivator winners – are expected to be announced in September.
Medical marijuana sales could begin in summer of 2017, commissioners said in the press release announcing the preliminary, or pre-approval, winners.
“A pre-approval is not a license,” Dr. Paul W. Davies, chairman of the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission, said in a statement.
Both the cultivation and processor pre-approval winners include Doctor’s Orders. It was recently embroiled in controversy when it came out that a state legislator, Dr. Dan Morheim, had pushed hard for medical marijuana legalization while keeping mum about his involvement in the industry as the medical director of Doctor’s Orders.
The cultivation winners include Harvest of Maryland, whose parent company Harvest Inc. has businesses in Arizona, Nevada, and Illinois. Harvest Inc. raised eyebrows last October when it announced if had offered a 5% equity stake to the town of Hancock, the planned site of Harvest of Maryland’s cultivation operation.
The locations of the growers and processors span 16 counties and Baltimore City. Maryland has 24 counties.
