Robert Celt
New Member
Thousands of marijuana plants are being grown and harvested in New Hampshire - all with the state's blessing.
Sanctuary ATC (Alternative Treatment Center), the state's first therapeutic cannabis dispensary, is about to open in Plymouth.
On Friday, the New Hampshire Sunday News got a look inside the high-tech, high-security cultivation facility that will supply the products sold there.
Dr. David Syrek of Candia is the medical director at Sanctuary ATC and one of three partners behind the nonprofit venture. He said it's about compassion.
"What we're producing is medicine for patients who are really sick," he said. "And it's very safe medicine without the side effects of all the opiates, the narcotics, the tranquilizers."
The cultivation facility is in an industrial park in Rochester. Unremarkable on the outside, the facility is state-of-the art inside, with high-tech water and air filtration systems to ensure the purity and safety of the plants and products inside.
"We're really growing certified-organic, pharmaceutical-grade product here, and there's a lot that goes into ensuring the safety of these products," said CEO Jason Sidman, a Salem native.
Sidman and a partner, Josh Weaver, ran a hedge fund in Manhattan from 2002 to 2010. Now the two are partners, along with Syrek, in Sanctuary ATC.
When you step inside, it's not the pungent smell associated with pot that greets you, but a lush, herbal aroma more like a traditional greenhouse.
Friday morning, about 400 plants of various sizes were inside the "veg room," where they get 18 hours of artificial light daily and fans keep their leaves moving gently. The idea is to replicate the natural light and wind the plants would receive.
Sidman said cannabis plants like music - especially classical music, some studies have shown - so he plays Bach and other masters to help them thrive.
Once they reach the desired size, the plants are moved to one of seven "flowering rooms," named after bands such as Daft Punk, Gorilla and Collective Soul.
There, the lights are on for just 12 hours a day, which spurs the plants to produce buds. It's the buds that are turned into various products that will be sold at the dispensary.
Only female plants produce buds; they use male plants only to create new strains. And they take cuttings from mature female plants to create clones that share the therapeutic properties of the "mother" plants.
Sidman said keeping the facility free of contaminants is critical. If someone were to bring in a pathogen on their shoes, for instance, "it can take down a whole crop in two days."
They've created a "micro-environment" in the grow rooms with beneficial micro-organisms that eat any bad bugs that do get inside. There's carbon filtration to clean the air and a reverse-osmosis system to purify the water.
What sold Sidman on the Rochester site is a hydroelectric power plant that runs the entire complex. "This is like a cannabis grower's dream," he said.
Cultivation sites use high levels of electricity; it's one of the most expensive aspects of the operation. Because of the water power from the Salmon Falls River, Sidman said, "We pay less for power and we're using green power. It was a win-win for everybody."
John Martin, manager of the Bureau of Licensing and Certification at the state health department, has been the point person for the state's therapeutic cannabis program.
Martin said he's impressed with what Sanctuary has done, both at the Rochester cultivation facility and the Plymouth dispensary, the first of four licensed ATCs in the state. Two other groups are building dispensaries in Dover, Lebanon and Merrimack that are expected to open later this year, he said.
"These are professionals," he said. "They know what they're doing. Their core mission is to get the best therapeutic cannabis to their patients."
There's a lot more to the operation that you might expect. It's part greenhouse, part science lab, part test kitchen.
Syrek said cannabis has more than 100 cannabinoids, the chemical compounds that produce different effects; only a small percentage are psychoactive. "A lot of them act in concert with each other to exert the therapeutic effects," he explained.
In addition to selling the cannabis "flowers," or buds, Sanctuary will produce transdermal patches, tinctures and "edibles" such as cookies, bars and Chex mix. The Rochester facility has a commercial-grade kitchen where the edibles are made.
"We want to offer our patients as many options as possible," Sidman said.
The products are all stored in a 45,000-pound vault.
Martin said security at the cultivation building is intense - but largely invisible. "It's all over but you can't see it," he said, adding, "It can see you."
All products will leave this facility in tamper-proof, child-resistent packaging labeled with trackable bar codes. The buds are sold in medicine bottles; cookies and other edibles are in packages you can't see through.
There are no cannabis leaves on the packages. "We want to stress this is therapeutic cannabis so it's packaged just like any controlled medication would be," Martin explained.
..
The dispensary also will sell lockboxes to keep the product secure and away from children and others.
Sidman said he expects to start with about 200 patients when Sanctuary ATC opens later this month.
Syrek has already contacted many of those patients. As medical director, his role is to find the right strain of therapeutic cannabis to match each patient's symptoms and conditions, and the best way to administer the dose.
He also plans to do community outreach and education and hopes to convince more doctors to support the program.
Syrek grew up in Deerfield, went to Manchester High School Central and studied pre-med at the University of New Hampshire. After medical school, he worked as a pathologist in Nashua for about 10 years.
When New Hampshire passed its therapeutic cannabis law in 2013, Syrek did some research and became convinced the therapeutic effects were real.
He's seen cannabis ease pain, increase appetite and improve sleep for cancer patients; improve muscle spasms in patients with multiple sclerosis; and ease joint pain in those with osteoarthritis.
It's not a placebo effect, he said. "This plant has been used for over 3,000 years," he said. "There's a reason why it selectively was bred by humans. It's helped in so many disorders throughout the centuries of human suffering."
So where did the seeds for all these plants come from?
The question is a conversation stopper; because cannabis is still an illegal drug under federal law, there's no way to buy seeds legally.
"Immaculate conception?" Sidman offers.
Finally, Martin breaks the awkward silence: "Our rules don't address in any way the source of the seeds or seedlings."
Sidman is nonplussed by the jokes, and the criticism, that come with growing and selling cannabis for a living. "Pioneers get arrows in their backs," he said.
Was he ever a recreational cannabis user? "To be honest with you, I don't drink and I don't do drugs," he said. "I really never have."
"But if I had a qualifying condition, there's no question in my mind that this would be the medicine I would turn to," he said.
Martin said he wishes therapeutic cannabis had been available to help his father when he was dying of leukemia two years ago. "The reality is in the last several months of his life, his qualify of life was just about zero," he said.
He thinks cannabis might have eased his dad's pain and helped him eat and sleep.
"I don't think it would have changed the outcome," he said. "It's just the end wouldn't have been as miserable as it was."
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: High-Tech: Medical Marijuana Nears The Finish Line In New Hampshire
Author: Shawne K. Wickham
Contact: Union Leader
Photo Credit: David Lane
Website: Union Leader
Sanctuary ATC (Alternative Treatment Center), the state's first therapeutic cannabis dispensary, is about to open in Plymouth.
On Friday, the New Hampshire Sunday News got a look inside the high-tech, high-security cultivation facility that will supply the products sold there.
Dr. David Syrek of Candia is the medical director at Sanctuary ATC and one of three partners behind the nonprofit venture. He said it's about compassion.
"What we're producing is medicine for patients who are really sick," he said. "And it's very safe medicine without the side effects of all the opiates, the narcotics, the tranquilizers."
The cultivation facility is in an industrial park in Rochester. Unremarkable on the outside, the facility is state-of-the art inside, with high-tech water and air filtration systems to ensure the purity and safety of the plants and products inside.
"We're really growing certified-organic, pharmaceutical-grade product here, and there's a lot that goes into ensuring the safety of these products," said CEO Jason Sidman, a Salem native.
Sidman and a partner, Josh Weaver, ran a hedge fund in Manhattan from 2002 to 2010. Now the two are partners, along with Syrek, in Sanctuary ATC.
When you step inside, it's not the pungent smell associated with pot that greets you, but a lush, herbal aroma more like a traditional greenhouse.
Friday morning, about 400 plants of various sizes were inside the "veg room," where they get 18 hours of artificial light daily and fans keep their leaves moving gently. The idea is to replicate the natural light and wind the plants would receive.
Sidman said cannabis plants like music - especially classical music, some studies have shown - so he plays Bach and other masters to help them thrive.
Once they reach the desired size, the plants are moved to one of seven "flowering rooms," named after bands such as Daft Punk, Gorilla and Collective Soul.
There, the lights are on for just 12 hours a day, which spurs the plants to produce buds. It's the buds that are turned into various products that will be sold at the dispensary.
Only female plants produce buds; they use male plants only to create new strains. And they take cuttings from mature female plants to create clones that share the therapeutic properties of the "mother" plants.
Sidman said keeping the facility free of contaminants is critical. If someone were to bring in a pathogen on their shoes, for instance, "it can take down a whole crop in two days."
They've created a "micro-environment" in the grow rooms with beneficial micro-organisms that eat any bad bugs that do get inside. There's carbon filtration to clean the air and a reverse-osmosis system to purify the water.
What sold Sidman on the Rochester site is a hydroelectric power plant that runs the entire complex. "This is like a cannabis grower's dream," he said.
Cultivation sites use high levels of electricity; it's one of the most expensive aspects of the operation. Because of the water power from the Salmon Falls River, Sidman said, "We pay less for power and we're using green power. It was a win-win for everybody."
John Martin, manager of the Bureau of Licensing and Certification at the state health department, has been the point person for the state's therapeutic cannabis program.
Martin said he's impressed with what Sanctuary has done, both at the Rochester cultivation facility and the Plymouth dispensary, the first of four licensed ATCs in the state. Two other groups are building dispensaries in Dover, Lebanon and Merrimack that are expected to open later this year, he said.
"These are professionals," he said. "They know what they're doing. Their core mission is to get the best therapeutic cannabis to their patients."
There's a lot more to the operation that you might expect. It's part greenhouse, part science lab, part test kitchen.
Syrek said cannabis has more than 100 cannabinoids, the chemical compounds that produce different effects; only a small percentage are psychoactive. "A lot of them act in concert with each other to exert the therapeutic effects," he explained.
In addition to selling the cannabis "flowers," or buds, Sanctuary will produce transdermal patches, tinctures and "edibles" such as cookies, bars and Chex mix. The Rochester facility has a commercial-grade kitchen where the edibles are made.
"We want to offer our patients as many options as possible," Sidman said.
The products are all stored in a 45,000-pound vault.
Martin said security at the cultivation building is intense - but largely invisible. "It's all over but you can't see it," he said, adding, "It can see you."
All products will leave this facility in tamper-proof, child-resistent packaging labeled with trackable bar codes. The buds are sold in medicine bottles; cookies and other edibles are in packages you can't see through.
There are no cannabis leaves on the packages. "We want to stress this is therapeutic cannabis so it's packaged just like any controlled medication would be," Martin explained.
..
The dispensary also will sell lockboxes to keep the product secure and away from children and others.
Sidman said he expects to start with about 200 patients when Sanctuary ATC opens later this month.
Syrek has already contacted many of those patients. As medical director, his role is to find the right strain of therapeutic cannabis to match each patient's symptoms and conditions, and the best way to administer the dose.
He also plans to do community outreach and education and hopes to convince more doctors to support the program.
Syrek grew up in Deerfield, went to Manchester High School Central and studied pre-med at the University of New Hampshire. After medical school, he worked as a pathologist in Nashua for about 10 years.
When New Hampshire passed its therapeutic cannabis law in 2013, Syrek did some research and became convinced the therapeutic effects were real.
He's seen cannabis ease pain, increase appetite and improve sleep for cancer patients; improve muscle spasms in patients with multiple sclerosis; and ease joint pain in those with osteoarthritis.
It's not a placebo effect, he said. "This plant has been used for over 3,000 years," he said. "There's a reason why it selectively was bred by humans. It's helped in so many disorders throughout the centuries of human suffering."
So where did the seeds for all these plants come from?
The question is a conversation stopper; because cannabis is still an illegal drug under federal law, there's no way to buy seeds legally.
"Immaculate conception?" Sidman offers.
Finally, Martin breaks the awkward silence: "Our rules don't address in any way the source of the seeds or seedlings."
Sidman is nonplussed by the jokes, and the criticism, that come with growing and selling cannabis for a living. "Pioneers get arrows in their backs," he said.
Was he ever a recreational cannabis user? "To be honest with you, I don't drink and I don't do drugs," he said. "I really never have."
"But if I had a qualifying condition, there's no question in my mind that this would be the medicine I would turn to," he said.
Martin said he wishes therapeutic cannabis had been available to help his father when he was dying of leukemia two years ago. "The reality is in the last several months of his life, his qualify of life was just about zero," he said.
He thinks cannabis might have eased his dad's pain and helped him eat and sleep.
"I don't think it would have changed the outcome," he said. "It's just the end wouldn't have been as miserable as it was."
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: High-Tech: Medical Marijuana Nears The Finish Line In New Hampshire
Author: Shawne K. Wickham
Contact: Union Leader
Photo Credit: David Lane
Website: Union Leader
