Bunker among sites eyed for medical marijuana.

Although plans for a medical marijuana growing facility off Porter Road are literally underground, one of the driving forces behind the proposal truly wants to bring the benefits of the medicine up into the light.

Not only is Geoff Whaling the president of Douglassville-based Bunker Botanicals LLC — which is one of hundreds of proposals seeking a growing license under Pennsylvania’s new medical marijuana law — he is also an advocate for expanding the plant’s use for medical purposes. And he’s not alone. Present for a tour of the Cold War-era bunker May 19 were two members of his board whose names might sound familiar to sports fans — former Philadelphia Flyer Riley Cote and former Denver Bronco Charlie Adams.

They are two of numerous athletes discovering the benefits of medical cannabis for everything from pain relief, to post traumatic stress disorder and the long-term physical effects of repeated concussions so common in professional athletes.

Whaling has organized them into a group called Athletes for a CARE, which stands for Cannabis Advocacy Research and Education and includes Super Bowl ring winner Marvin Washington, and fellow NFL veterans Todd Herreman, Eben Britton and Nate Jackson.

And just May 18, Whaling, who is already the president of the Pennsylvania Hemp Association, was named chairman of the National Hemp Association.

“So I guess you could say I was really an advocate before I was a businessman,” he said.

“People need to realize that there are 85 elements to this plant. One is THC, which is the hallucinogenic and is used in pain relief; and the other is CBD, which is only just beginning to be understood and is turning out to be extremely effective in treating neurological disorders,” he said.

A native Canadian, where medical marijuana has been legal for 14 years, Whaling said “and no one has died from it yet.”

Now a Pennsylvania resident, Whaling emphasizes that his bid for a grow license from the state focuses on utilizing Pennsylvania expertise and build a Pennsylvania industry.

“I think a lot of people are beginning to realize that many of these proposals are coming from out of state companies with out of state corporate headquarters who will be taking their profits out of state,” he said.

He said the plan for the Porter Road site will require as much as $10 million to re-make the former Cold War-era communications bunker into a modern grow facility and will employ 24 people within three years.

“The economic impact here will be significant,” if the site is chosen to receive a grow license.

That’s a big if considering that the state received more than 500 packages of applications from which it must select only 12 sites for growing licenses and 27 dispensaries.

Whaling said the state is “being smart about how it does this, issuing half its licenses to see how things work, before issuing the other half.” He said he and his investors have planned for the possibility that they will not win a license in the first round and are prepared to pursue one in the second round.

In an update in late April, Health Secretary Karen Murphy indicated the department is “on-track” to announce the license winners “by the end of June.”

But while Whaling and his partners wait to see if they have made history, they thought it might be interesting to offer tours of what is arguably one of the more unique sites for a potential grow facility in Pennsylvania, in part because of its unique history.

Built in 1960 by AT&T at the request of the U.S. government, the bunker held high-tech communications equipment of the day and was meant as a back-up communication method in the case of a nuclear attack.

“This was built as a bomb shelter and you can see the apparatus that’s left down there is on springs and underneath all the columns, there are eight-by-eight plates under the concrete floors so that there would be no movement,” said Dave Knipe, who is assisting Bunker Botanicals in getting the underground site ready.

As the group toured the damp and eerie space, the size and dimension of the facility became evident.

“We’re lucky to have the ceilings so high,” said Ryan Hedrick, a Delaware County native who has spent the last few years in Colorado learning all he can about growing medical marijuana.

Also evident was how secure the facility will be.

“After all,” said Knipe, “what could be more secure than a bunker?”

“I think a lot of people are beginning to realize that many of these proposals are coming from out of state companies with out of state corporate headquarters who will be taking their profits out of state.” Geoffrey Whaling, president of Bunker Botanicals

EVAN BRANDT — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Lower Pottsgrove Township Manager Ed Wagner, right, talks with former Denver Bronco Charlie Adams, left, and former Philadelphia Flyer Riley Cote, both of whom are on the board of directors of Bunker Botanicals.

EVAN BRANDT — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA An artist’s rendering of how the Bunker Botanical operation will grow medical marijuana underground at its proposed facility off Porter Road.

EVAN BRANDT — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Geoffrey Whaling, president of Bunker Botanicals LLC, at right, offers up a tour of the underground Cold War-era bunker where he wants to establish a 50,000-square-foot medical marijuana growing facility.