South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Marijuana dispensaries list expands
Qualified consumers find greater choice of locations, products
South Florida and the rest of the state are seeing big growth in marijuana dispensaries, giving patients an ever-expanding list of options. The number of dispensaries has more than tripled in Florida and collectively shot up sixfold across Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
And another potential wave is on the horizon, as a state cap on dispensary locations expires in April 2020.
For consumers qualified for medical marijuana, the growth means a greater choice of dispensary locations and products.
Last August, a mere five medical marijuana dispensaries operated in South Florida, mostly in Lake Worth and Miami. As of August, there are more than 30 dispensaries across the tri-county region.
At this week’s grand opening of Surterra Wellness in Delray Beach, friends Donna Prakas and Sandra Alexander were there to check out the products and prices, just as they have at Trulieve and other dispensaries.
The Delray Beach friends met in a Lamaze birthing class 25 years ago and had babies two days apart. Now with their children grown, they shop together to find the medical marijuana products to ease their pain.
“We’ve been experimenting with lotions and salves,” said Prakas, 62, who said a doctor recommended medical marijuana to help her sleep after pain from surgery.
Trying different products and dispensaries is key, added Alexander, 57, who has arthritis. “They’re all different,” she said about the dispensaries, their products and return policies.
Kim Hawkes, associate director of Atlanta-based Surterra Wellness, said a larger number of dispensaries in Florida is educating patients and making more products available.
Statewide, the number of medical marijuana dispensaries has
more than tripled in Florida over the past year, to 148 from 46, according to the Florida Office of Medical Marijuana Use.
Dispensary locations have grown with the medical marijuana card-carrying patients, who have more than doubled to 337,982 from 144,557 a year ago in August.
Some dispensary operations are working to gain a foothold in Florida markets for another business opportunity: a possibility that Florida, like 11 other states, could approve recreational marijuana after legalizing medical marijuana.
The potential market is enormous. Adult spending on pot products in the U.S. is expected to grow to $23.4 billion by 2022, according to the latest report by Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics, firms that track and analyze the worldwide industry.
Orlando lawyer John Morgan, who was successful in his constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana, recently kicked off a campaign to legalize recreational marijuana in Florida.
Fewer obstacles to dispensary locations
Initially, some cities took a “notin-my-backyard” attitude.
“Today, opening a medical cannabis center is much like opening any retail location,” said Vinit Patel, regional operations manager for Curaleaf Florida.
A few years ago, dispensaries faced bans from some cities and had to choose locations on the outskirts. And not every landlord wanted a medical marijuana dispensary in their shopping plaza, even though they were licensed by the state.
Vijay Choksi, compliance manager for dispensary operation GrowHealthy, said Florida’s medical marijuana industry “hasn’t really faced the hiccups that we previously had in 2017 and 2018. That’s why you’re seeing such an influx of dispensaries across the
state.”
Patel said that in 2017 and 2018, many municipalities “were just figuring out how to navigate the uncharted waters of the Office of Medical Marijuana Use program. Local codes were not yet written resulting in zoning and building departments treading lightly.”
Some South Florida cities, including Boca Raton, Margate, Tamarac and Pembroke Pines, still prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries. But even that may be changing: Coral Springs reversed its ban in April and a discussion about allowing dispensaries in Boca Raton is scheduled for a City Council workshop Aug. 26, according to city spokeswoman Chrissy Gibson.
Cities often have restrictions on store sites that are within a mile of schools, child care centers, parks and libraries. In January, Hollywood denied a dispensary’s application for a site it said was too
close to retail pharmacies such as CVS or Walgreens.
But overall, the comfort level has risen and many dispensaries are now prominently located in strip shopping plazas or standalone stores. And many landlords are happy to have them, says Katy Welsh, senior director for real estate giant Colliers International. Medical marijuana dispensaries are hot right now in retail; “they’re paying good rent,” Welsh said.
Dispensaries that originated in other states are coming into Florida as well.
GrowHealthy has five dispensaries in Florida and three dispensaries in South Florida. Parent company iAnthus Capital Holdings in New York operates dispensaries in 11 states.
Statewide, GrowHealthy is “trying to open up 15 before yearend. That’s our goal,” Choksi said.
California-based MedMen opened a dispensary in June in
West Palm Beach and has applied to the city of Fort Lauderdale to open a dispensary at 1771 E. Sunrise Blvd., according to city documents.
3 Boys Farm, which does business as One Plant, is also seeking approval for a store at 1830 Cordova Road in Fort Lauderdale.
Challenging the dispensary cap
The expansion allowed in Florida wasn’t fast enough for at least one dispensary company.
Florida’s 2017 law put a 25-location cap on each licensed company’s dispensaries in the state, to gradually increase as there are more eligible patients. The cap is now 35.
Trulieve, which already was the largest dispensary operation in the state, challenged the cap in a lawsuit in 2018. A Leon County circuit judge struck down the cap, saying it failed to comply with the 2016 constitutional amendment that legalized medical marijuana in Florida.
A settlement with the Florida Department of Health was reached in April that allows Trulieve to open 49 dispensaries, which included 14 locations “grandfathered” in because they were opened before the 2017 law. Trulieve now has 31 dispensaries in the state, including eight in South Florida.
“With the rapid growth of patients on a weekly basis, we have no plans to slow down on increasing our dispensary footprint,” said Victoria Walker, spokeswoman for Trulieve.
Trulieve’s win led two other fast-growing dispensaries, Surterra Wellness and Curaleaf Florida, to complain and request fair treatment. On Aug. 5, the Department of Health agreed it would not count the first six approved dispensaries opened by Surterra as part of the cap.
Surterra Wellness has 26 dispensaries in the state, including five in South Florida, and Curaleaf has 25 dispensaries in the state, including seven in South Florida.
But in April 2020, Florida’s cap expires on the number of locations licensed dispensaries can open. Then the questions may turn to how many dispensaries the market can bear, and how many any community may want in its retail mix.
Surterra’s Hawkes said she couldn’t say how many dispensaries might be eventually open in the state. “We’re actively meeting demand. There’s always demand,” she said.
“Today, opening a medical cannabis center is much like opening any retail location.” Vinit Patel, regional operations manager for Curaleaf Florida.