HARRISBURG, Pa. – The Pennsylvania Department of Health yesterday released information on the issuance of 12 permits for medical marijuana growers/processors in the state.

The permittees will now have six months in which to become operational before they can begin growing medical marijuana. Entities receiving permits were notified by mail.

“With (yesterday’s) announcement, we remain on track to fulfill the Wolf Administration’s commitment to deliver medical marijuana to patients in 2018,” said John Collins, Director of the Office of Medical Marijuana. “The applications from the entities receiving permits were objectively reviewed by an evaluation team made up of members from across commonwealth agencies. Any letters of recommendation or support for an applicant were not considered during the evaluation.”

The 12 permits were issued to:

Southeast Region
Prime Wellness of Pennsylvania, LLC
Franklin Labs, LLC

Northeast Region
Pennsylvania Medical Solutions, LLC
Standard Farms, LLC

Southcentral Region
Ilera Healthcare, LLC
AES Compassionate Care, LLC

Northcentral Region
Terrapin Investment Fund 1, LLC
GTI Pennsylvania, LLC

Southwest Region
AGRiMED Industries of PA, LLC
PurePenn, LLC

Northwest Region
Holistic Farms, LLC
Cresco Yeltrah, LLC

Scores for all grower/processor applicants are available on the Department of Health website at www.health.pa.gov.

“The next step for the permit holders will be to ramp up their operations so they can prepare to grow medical marijuana,” Collins said. “Our teams will perform a series of site inspections before the locations can be certified as operational. Once that happens, the permittees will be able to begin growing and processing medical marijuana.”

The Office of Medical Marijuana received 457 total applications: 177 for growers/processors and 280 for dispensaries.

The Medical Marijuana Program was signed into law by Governor Tom Wolf on April 17, 2016. Since that time, the department has:

• Completed the Safe Harbor temporary guidelines and Safe Harbor Letter application process, as well as approved 271 applications;
• Completed temporary regulations for growers/processors, dispensaries, laboratories and physicians which have been published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin;
• Released Phase One permit applications for grower/processors and dispensaries;
• Developed the Medical Marijuana Physician Workgroup;
• Drafted temporary regulations for practitioners to participate in the program; and
• Selected the woman-owned company MJ Freeway to implement a seed-to-sale electronic tracking system.

The Medical Marijuana Program became effective on May 17, 2016, and is expected to be fully implemented in 2018. The program will offer medical marijuana to patients who are residents of Pennsylvania and under a physician’s care for the treatment of a serious medical condition as defined by Act 16.

Questions about the Medical Marijuana Program can be emailed to RADHMedMarijuana@pa.gov.

Information is also available on the Department of Health website at www.health.pa.gov or by following the Pennsylvania Department of Health on Facebook and Twitter.