Jacob Redmond
Well-Known Member
Despite a slow start in a new industry, In Grown Farms celebrated its first medical marijuana harvest on Wednesday.
There were about 60 plants, some of which reached up to president and CEO Larry Kiest’s eyeballs. He stands more than 6 feet tall.
“It looked fantastic for our very first harvest ever,” he said. “We’re very pleased and very excited and very honored to be part of the program.”
Stalks with flowers were cut from the plants and hung to dry in a curing room. Kiest expects a week-long curing process before his company’s contributions to medical marijuana teas, oils and tablets are ready for patient consumption.
That could be within a few weeks, around the same time In Grown Farms prepares for another harvest in a ripe industry intended to have perpetual harvests to ease the pain of more than 100,000 patients. Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner announced in February that In Grown Farms would receive the sole cultivation center license for Illinois State Police District 16, which comprises Boone, Winnebago, Stephenson and Jo Daviess counties.
Later, during the same month, Stephenson County transferred a 19.5-acre real estate title for land in Mill Race Crossing to In Grown Farms. The agreement was that the company wouldn't pay the county anything for the parcel. Instead, it would pay to have Commonwealth Edison extend electrical utilities to the site at an estimated $300,000 cost.
Yet In Grown Farms, which received its certificate to grow from the Illinois Medical Cannabis Pilot Program on July 20, already has encountered some startup confusion because demand isn’t where the pundits, lobbyists and advocates had predicted. Only 3,100 patients have been approved to use medical marijuana in the state’s pilot program. That includes 16 children.
In Grown Farms has stopped constructing its larger building - at 80,000 square feet - at Mill Race Crossing because of lower than expected demand, Kiest said.
Also, Kiest has laid off four people, which sent his payroll of 10 employees this summer to six.
He said observers should expect the same cautious approach “until such a time that the patient count increases and the demand is there,” he said. “It’s a new business to the whole state of Illinois. We’re going to weather the storm and we’re going to continue to strive to be the best in the business.”
This past week, the Illinois Department of Public Health said that about 4,000 people have submitted complete applications, which the program began accepting in September 2014.
Qualifying patients pay an annual fee of $100 for a marijuana card. They need a doctor's written certification.
Tyler Anthony sits on the Illinois Cannabis Industry Association’s board and is the former legal counsel for the Illinois Medical Cannabis Pilot Program. Anthony blamed the low patient count on “a confluence of factors,” including the fingerprinting requirement for registering into the program and the paperwork involved.
“(Plus), there isn’t any product available yet,” he said. “It takes time.”
So far, dispensaries in Mundelein, Canton and Quincy are fully licensed and ready to open. In Grown Farms is working with about 30 state-approved dispensaries in Illinois including two in Rockford: MedMar, 2696 McFarland Road, and Mapleglen Care Center, 4777 Stenstrom Road.
An advisory board recently recommended that Illinois add eight health conditions to the state's current 39 diseases and conditions eligible for the pilot medical marijuana program. Those eight are chronic pain due to trauma; chronic pain syndrome; chronic post-operative pain; intractable pain; osteoarthritis; irritable bowel syndrome; autism; and Post-traumatic stress disorder.
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Nirav Shah, an appointee of Gov. Bruce Rauner, must give the OK.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: In Grown Farms Has First Medical Marijuana Harvest
Author: Susan Vela/The Associated Press
Contact: Email Author
Photo Credit: The Journal Standard
Website: Journal Standard
There were about 60 plants, some of which reached up to president and CEO Larry Kiest’s eyeballs. He stands more than 6 feet tall.
“It looked fantastic for our very first harvest ever,” he said. “We’re very pleased and very excited and very honored to be part of the program.”
Stalks with flowers were cut from the plants and hung to dry in a curing room. Kiest expects a week-long curing process before his company’s contributions to medical marijuana teas, oils and tablets are ready for patient consumption.
That could be within a few weeks, around the same time In Grown Farms prepares for another harvest in a ripe industry intended to have perpetual harvests to ease the pain of more than 100,000 patients. Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner announced in February that In Grown Farms would receive the sole cultivation center license for Illinois State Police District 16, which comprises Boone, Winnebago, Stephenson and Jo Daviess counties.
Later, during the same month, Stephenson County transferred a 19.5-acre real estate title for land in Mill Race Crossing to In Grown Farms. The agreement was that the company wouldn't pay the county anything for the parcel. Instead, it would pay to have Commonwealth Edison extend electrical utilities to the site at an estimated $300,000 cost.
Yet In Grown Farms, which received its certificate to grow from the Illinois Medical Cannabis Pilot Program on July 20, already has encountered some startup confusion because demand isn’t where the pundits, lobbyists and advocates had predicted. Only 3,100 patients have been approved to use medical marijuana in the state’s pilot program. That includes 16 children.
In Grown Farms has stopped constructing its larger building - at 80,000 square feet - at Mill Race Crossing because of lower than expected demand, Kiest said.
Also, Kiest has laid off four people, which sent his payroll of 10 employees this summer to six.
He said observers should expect the same cautious approach “until such a time that the patient count increases and the demand is there,” he said. “It’s a new business to the whole state of Illinois. We’re going to weather the storm and we’re going to continue to strive to be the best in the business.”
This past week, the Illinois Department of Public Health said that about 4,000 people have submitted complete applications, which the program began accepting in September 2014.
Qualifying patients pay an annual fee of $100 for a marijuana card. They need a doctor's written certification.
Tyler Anthony sits on the Illinois Cannabis Industry Association’s board and is the former legal counsel for the Illinois Medical Cannabis Pilot Program. Anthony blamed the low patient count on “a confluence of factors,” including the fingerprinting requirement for registering into the program and the paperwork involved.
“(Plus), there isn’t any product available yet,” he said. “It takes time.”
So far, dispensaries in Mundelein, Canton and Quincy are fully licensed and ready to open. In Grown Farms is working with about 30 state-approved dispensaries in Illinois including two in Rockford: MedMar, 2696 McFarland Road, and Mapleglen Care Center, 4777 Stenstrom Road.
An advisory board recently recommended that Illinois add eight health conditions to the state's current 39 diseases and conditions eligible for the pilot medical marijuana program. Those eight are chronic pain due to trauma; chronic pain syndrome; chronic post-operative pain; intractable pain; osteoarthritis; irritable bowel syndrome; autism; and Post-traumatic stress disorder.
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Nirav Shah, an appointee of Gov. Bruce Rauner, must give the OK.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: In Grown Farms Has First Medical Marijuana Harvest
Author: Susan Vela/The Associated Press
Contact: Email Author
Photo Credit: The Journal Standard
Website: Journal Standard
