Doctors Can Begin To Sign Qualified Patients Up For Medical Marijuana
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Minnesota officials can now start signing up qualified patients for medical marijuana. This comes one month before medical marijuana becomes available, by law, from state-run dispensaries.
Minnesota Medical Solutions CEO Dr. Kyle Kingsley said their growing facility at a high-security location in Otsego is on schedule, harvesting plants and extracting elements that go into pills and liquids.
"We are ready, we are producing at capacity," Kingsley said. "We are looking at probably final medicines that could be given to patients here in the next few weeks."
In downtown Minneapolis, crews were busy getting one of the first dispensaries ready for a July 1 opening date. The clinic is located in a one-story, cream-colored building at 207 9th Street South at the former site of the League of Catholic Women.
"Building essentially a medical clinic in a compressed time frame is difficult," Kingsley said. "The biggest thing is technology and security. All this stuff has to be done."
About 5,000 Minnesotans are expected to be eligible, patients with conditions like cancer and epilepsy, for the medical marijuana program. Kingsley said they will have enough marijuana-based medicine ready to cover the demand when as many as four clinics open statewide next month.
"We're going to have an inventory saved up for July 1st to serve as many patients as we can," he said.
Leases are signed by Minnesota Medical Solutions for dispensaries in Rochester and Moorhead, and company officials are looking for space in Eden Prairie.
For more information and resources on the state's Medical Cannabis program, visit the Minnesota Department of Health online.