Medical marijuana facility planned in York

A few business people based in York, England are seeking permit to cultivate and process medical marijuana in a former tobacco building.
They will open a facility in York for growing marijuana in the house and turn it into oils, ointments and other non-smoking customs of the herb to treat people with a host of medical conditions.
Five-Leaf Remedies Inc. will appear in March afore York’s Planning Commission and Zoning Hearings Board in connection with the company’s request for approval to use a building it owns at 213 E. Poplar St. for a growing and processing setup.
“We want to bring an inventive industry to the heart of York city,” said Christina Kauffman, a Five-Leaf Remedies spokesperson and a stakeholder of the company.
To make its campaigns a reality, the company will be required to obtain a state permit to produce and process marijuana for medicinal purposes underneath the Pennsylvania’s new medical marijuana law.
Five-Leaf Remedies might face stiff antagonism for that permit. York County is part of a 13-county province that is eligible for a total of 2 “grower/ processor” permits and 4 primary dispensary permits, said April Hutcheson, Pennsylvania Department of Health spokeswoman.
In York County alone, as many as 6 groups have queried with townships about opening a medical-marijuana-growing facility.
Viridis Medicine is amongst those competing for the coveted licenses. Viridis, who partners with Wolf Organization executive George Hodges and Jeff Geisel, co-president of Henry’s Seafood in Hellam Township, wants to open a facility in Hellam Township.
Race is on for marijuana permits in York County
Five-Leaf plans to spend $2.5 million transforming the 35,000-square-foot East Prospect Street building — a former tobacco-processing facility — into a profoundly secured, modern medicinal marijuana operation, Kauffman said.
Other area people linked with the project include Bobby Simpson, CEO of Crispus Attucks Association; Frank Dittenhafer II, a York architect; and Jonathan Spanos, a proprietor of The Paddock restaurant on Market Street in Springettsbury Township and a former state homeland security official in Pennsylvania.
“This is a very civic-minded and active group of community leaders,” Kauffman said.
The company is designed as a so-called benefit corporation, which means that its mission includes benefiting the community, as well as making a profit. It plans to donate a portion of its profits to area nonprofits, she said.
In addition to looking for to growing and processing medical marijuana, Five-Leaf Remedies also plans to apply to the state for permission to open dispensaries for selling its medical marijuana in the 13-county region that takes in York County. The company desires to open three retail locations, Kauffman said. She said it is reviewing potential sites and hasn’t determined where the locations will be.
County can possibly get medical marijuana dispensary permit.
If the company wins the essential approvals, it would expect to start the growing and processing operation in 2018, Kauffman said.