Maryland officials announced on Friday the 102 businesses that have received preliminary authorization to sell the state’s first legal medical marijuana, bringing the long-awaited program a step closer to fruition.
The Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission said patients could begin to legally purchase the drug as soon as this summer to treat conditions including seizures, anxiety and the side effects of cancer or chemotherapy. Lawmakers first approved medical marijuana 3½ years ago, but the program has been beset by various delays.
The commission gave preliminary authorization last month to dispensaries in each of the 47 state Senate districts, choosing from a pool of more than 800 applications scored by outside experts and with names of the companies and people involved redacted to avoid bias.
Notable dispensary winners include:
●Two firms that are suing cannabis regulators for denying them grower’s licenses — Alternative Medicine Maryland, in Anne Arundel County, and GTI Maryland, in Montgomery County, whose team includes former Baltimore Ravens tackle and NFL medical marijuana advocate Eugene Monroe.
●CannaPharmacy Maryland LLC in Prince George’s County, an offshoot of New Jersey’s largest medical-marijuana-growing facility. A former director of criminal intelligence for Interpol is advising the business on security, and its legal team includes a New Jersey state lawmaker.
●MMRC in Baltimore County, a firm represented by former Prince George’s County state’s attorney and retired federal judge Alexander Williams.
●CWS in Baltimore County, whose managing member Jon Tortora has led anti-fraud programs for the Social Security Administration.
●Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn, who runs a dispensary in the Takoma neighborhood of Northwest Washington, had applied to open a shop right across the state line in Takoma Park but instead won approval to expand to the Bethesda area.