Medical marijuana dispensaries see shortages
The Solevo Wellness medical marijuana dispensary in Squirrel Hill has temporarily closed for a second time since its Feb. 15 launch due to an inventory shortage.
The dispensary expects to reopen Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the region’s other approved dispensary, CY+ in Butler, remains open although a spokesman for the group acknowledged, “The selection is not great.”
Cresco Yeltrah operates the Butler dispensary and the state’s only currently operating grow facility in Brookville, Jefferson County, which is trying to supply the five dispensaries currently open.
“Nobody could have forecasted how great the patient demand for medical marijuana would be, but, as the only operator to come to market so far, we’re doing our best to supply the open dispensaries as quickly as we can harvest, manufacture and test our products,” said Trent Hartley, co-founder of Cresco Yeltrah.
“The production cycle of our products is fairly lengthy, but we are harvesting every two weeks, and each one is larger than the previous one, so we’ll have a greater product variety and quantity for the patients in the coming weeks.”
The product shortage should be mediated in coming weeks as more of the remaining 11 cultivators come online, including PurePenn in McKeesport, which expects to make its first deliveries in mid-April.
Statewide, more than 21,000 patients have registered for the medical marijuana program and more than 6,000 have been certified as having one of the 17 qualifying medical conditions.
State officials on Friday said more than 2,200 patients have received medical marijuana so far.
Sam Britz, chief operating officer for Solevo, said on Monday it has seen more than 500 patients to date with 300 more patients scheduled in the next two weeks.
“Given the adverse product situation, we are very encouraged by these numbers.”