Hampton Roads’ first medical cannabis dispensary will be opening in Portsmouth, city officials announced Wednesday, ending speculation over where a facility would land since the licensees were first identified earlier this fall.
New York-based Columbia Care will open the facility in the spring 2019, a City of Portsmouth news release said. The company declined to say where it would be located.
The dispensary will initially have around 24 employees, including chemists, scientists, horticulturalists and dispensers, the city said. At the facility, CBD and THC-A oil, capsules and creams will be produced and dispensed for state-registered patients.
Columbia Care is one of five companies that have been granted licenses by the Virginia Board of Pharmacy to operate medical dispensaries. By law, the medical cannabis products can only be distributed from these facilities.
Columbia Care is one of three out-of-state companies that were awarded licenses, joining Maryland-based Green Leaf Medical and Illinois-based Pharmacann, which has since been sold. The other two — Dalitso and Dharma Pharmaceuticals — are based in Virginia.
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