With Phase II Permits Awarded, Some Phase I Grower-Processors Still Haven’t Shipped A Single Harvest
Prime Wellness became fully operational this past week, shipping product to dispensaries with promises of more product in August, including dry leaf.
Prime followed Holistic Farms, which launched its own product in conjunction with the opening of its Liberty dispensaries in West Norriton and Philadelphia in mid July. Together, the two were the seventh and eighth to have product on the market, but there still are four more grower-processors that have yet to make any announcement of eventual product availability.
These remaining growers are AES Compassionate Care, AgriMed, Franklin Labs, and Pennsylvania Medical Solutions. Among these four, only one seems close to shipping product, with questions over the progress of the others, and in some cases real questions if they will ever be operational.
AES’ Herbology Dispensaries Opening Soon, Product to Follow
AES appears the closest to being operational. Also the winner of a dispensary permit for the southeast region, AES appears set to open a dispensary under its Herbology brand on East Passyunk Avenue in South Philadelphia in late August or Early September, according to South Philly Review.
AES confirmed the opening date, however marketing director Mahja Sulemanjee clarified products under its Grassroots brand would not be available in time for the opening of the Philadelphia location. AES plans to open another dispensary in Gettysburg in August, and Dubois later in the year.
“We currently do not have an exact date for when we will be shipping products and to which dispensaries,” Sulemanjee says. “It is our goal to serve all dispensaries in Pennsylvania.”
AES does plan to launch a variety of products later in the year, including flower, vape pens, tinctures, tablets, topicals, concentrates, RSO, and a few other innovative medicinal products” that are in the design stages. A source says they believe the earliest shipments would come in late September or October.
AgriMed’s Timeline is Unclear, Even as it Enters Ohio Market
AgriMed has repeatedly claimed that it was heading towards a late Spring debut of its own product line, and last month had sent a tweet listing a expected lineup of “CO2 oils and THC and CBD tinctures, vapor carts, transdermal patches, and capsules,” with the hashtag ‘#comingsoon.’
Little however is known on the status of its grow. The grower-processor lost its head grower this Spring, and attempts to contact the grower by PA Cannabis Report have so far gone unanswered.
AgriMed did receive a grower-processor licensing in Ohio in mid-July following a successful appeal. The state had made a clerical error in scoring that allowed at least two grower-processors to score higher, shutting out AgriMed.
Are Vireo Health’s Legal Woes Delaying its Pennsylvania Debut?
Minnesota-based Vireo Health, operating in the state as Pennsylvania Medical Solutions, is another grower whose status is unknown. Much of it could be stemming from a 2016 incident where its Minnesota subsidiary was caught shipping cannabis oil products across state lines to its then-struggling New York operation.
With legal trouble for the company, there may be an issue of capital while it fights the charges against it. Vireo’s website for Pennsylvania lists no specifics on the status of its operations in Pennsylvania, and no information has been posted to any of its social media accounts. Vireo itself did not respond to requests for comment on this story.
More information on Vireo’s product lines can be found on the company’s website.
Franklin Labs Quiet Almost a Year After Attempted Sale
The story of Franklin Labs is perhaps the most bizarre of the remaining growers, as at one point the company — and its permit — were on sale. Since then, there has been next to no news on whether or not the grower is operational, and from a recent visit to the grow site itself, it doesn’t look like much activity has happened over the past year.
Franklin Labs seemed to be shopping its facility and permit to potential buyers shortly after the first licenses were awarded in July 2017. The Philadelphia Inquirer was the first to learn that the company was officially for sale, obtaining a prospectus last October from a source, with an asking price of $20 million.
The state quickly moved to stop the sale, threatening Franklin Labs with a revocation of permit. The company — headed by a former advisor of Gov. Tom Wolf — took the offer off the table, and claimed it was selling the entire company, and not just the permit.
Since that time, the company has partnered with Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, and has apparently started growing “a small amount of medicine” according to a Reading Eagle story — but has no date for public release.
PA Cannabis Report has reached out to the Department of Health for further information on these growers, as well as information on what would happen if they fail to become operational. A spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
