Jacob Redmond
Well-Known Member
One of Minnesota's licensed medical marijuana firms has locked down a location for its future Rochester dispensary.
Minnesota Medical Solutions is one of two companies selected by the state to grow and dispense medical marijuana in oil and powder form. It's working on opening four dispensaries by this summer.
MinnMed, which is growing and processing the plants in a facility near Otsego, has signed a lease for 3,000 square feet of the former Hot Fish Shop space at 3456 East Circle Drive.
"It's going to be a beautiful, professional facility. It's going to be a lot more than just a pharmacy. It will be a very, very good pharmacy," said MinnMed CEO Dr. Kyle Kingsley.
Patients will need to be certified by their doctors as having a qualifying condition before receiving the cannabis. MinnMed staffers will meet with each patient to determine the proper dosage.
Having grown up in the Harmony area, Kingsley is very familiar with southeastern Minnesota. He said that many of the investors in his firm are also from the region.
The dispensary will be located in a commercial center owned by Gary Mattison and Gus Chafoulias.
"We're very proud to be leasing to Minnesota Medical," said Mattison. "I looked at them for a good long time. They are a good, straight-up company."
MinMed is moving into much of the space left open when The Hot Fish Shop closed in August. The r!ah Hair Studio, which is next to the spot, plans to expand and take the remainder of the Hot Fish space.
Kingsley and MinnMed's Chief Compliance Officer Ross Hussey say they have been working with city officials to make sure the deal goes smoothly.
"Rochester is very comfortable with all things medical. We're finding that Rochester is a very effectively run city," Kingsley said.
They also plan to open three other similar dispensaries. Hussey says they have signed a lease in Minneapolis and are negotiating one in Moorhead. MinnMed is also looking for a location in Minnesota's Third District.
MinnMed has also been meeting with Mayo Clinic doctors, particularly specialists in neurology, oncology and hospice care. They are finding that physicians are open to the idea of medical cannabus, particularly when they realize MinnMed will be dispensing precise, clinical amounts of only oil and powder. This will not be like the plant dispensaries in Colorado and California.
"The Minnesota model is very different than anything else out there that we've seen. The clinical nature of it is much more appealing to the medical establishment," Kingsley said.
Hussey said the timeline is to have the Rochester facility ready to serve patients at least by mid-June, if not earlier. The Minnesota medical marijuana law goes into effect on June 1.
MinnMed expects to have a pharmacist, a receptionist/security official and three pharmacy technicians based in Rochester at the start. The facility will be designed to be scalable to increase those numbers, if demand requires. The company doesn't know how many patients to expect in Rochester. Kingsley said a very rough estimate would be 100 to 200 patients in the first couple of weeks.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Medical marijuana dispensary to open in Rochester - PostBulletin.com: Local
Author: Jeff Kiger
Contact: jkiger@postbulletin.com
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: PostBulletin.com: Rochester, MN's leading news source.
Minnesota Medical Solutions is one of two companies selected by the state to grow and dispense medical marijuana in oil and powder form. It's working on opening four dispensaries by this summer.
MinnMed, which is growing and processing the plants in a facility near Otsego, has signed a lease for 3,000 square feet of the former Hot Fish Shop space at 3456 East Circle Drive.
"It's going to be a beautiful, professional facility. It's going to be a lot more than just a pharmacy. It will be a very, very good pharmacy," said MinnMed CEO Dr. Kyle Kingsley.
Patients will need to be certified by their doctors as having a qualifying condition before receiving the cannabis. MinnMed staffers will meet with each patient to determine the proper dosage.
Having grown up in the Harmony area, Kingsley is very familiar with southeastern Minnesota. He said that many of the investors in his firm are also from the region.
The dispensary will be located in a commercial center owned by Gary Mattison and Gus Chafoulias.
"We're very proud to be leasing to Minnesota Medical," said Mattison. "I looked at them for a good long time. They are a good, straight-up company."
MinMed is moving into much of the space left open when The Hot Fish Shop closed in August. The r!ah Hair Studio, which is next to the spot, plans to expand and take the remainder of the Hot Fish space.
Kingsley and MinnMed's Chief Compliance Officer Ross Hussey say they have been working with city officials to make sure the deal goes smoothly.
"Rochester is very comfortable with all things medical. We're finding that Rochester is a very effectively run city," Kingsley said.
They also plan to open three other similar dispensaries. Hussey says they have signed a lease in Minneapolis and are negotiating one in Moorhead. MinnMed is also looking for a location in Minnesota's Third District.
MinnMed has also been meeting with Mayo Clinic doctors, particularly specialists in neurology, oncology and hospice care. They are finding that physicians are open to the idea of medical cannabus, particularly when they realize MinnMed will be dispensing precise, clinical amounts of only oil and powder. This will not be like the plant dispensaries in Colorado and California.
"The Minnesota model is very different than anything else out there that we've seen. The clinical nature of it is much more appealing to the medical establishment," Kingsley said.
Hussey said the timeline is to have the Rochester facility ready to serve patients at least by mid-June, if not earlier. The Minnesota medical marijuana law goes into effect on June 1.
MinnMed expects to have a pharmacist, a receptionist/security official and three pharmacy technicians based in Rochester at the start. The facility will be designed to be scalable to increase those numbers, if demand requires. The company doesn't know how many patients to expect in Rochester. Kingsley said a very rough estimate would be 100 to 200 patients in the first couple of weeks.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Medical marijuana dispensary to open in Rochester - PostBulletin.com: Local
Author: Jeff Kiger
Contact: jkiger@postbulletin.com
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: PostBulletin.com: Rochester, MN's leading news source.
