Township site eyed for medical marijuana
Community support needed to obtain state license for grow facility
LIMERICK >> One of the first legalized medical marijuana manufacturing facilities in Pennsylvania could set up shop in the township, so long as state and local officials give the green light.
Resident Noel Billingsley, founder of Keystone Medical Cannabis LLC, stood before the Limerick Board of Supervisors Tuesday night to talk about his organization’s intention to obtain a medical marijuana growing and processing license from the Pennsylvania Department of Health and begin manufacturing products out of a facility located at 880 Enterprise Drive.
The goal of the presentation was to begin to convince the community to support the application, which would increase the organization’s likelihood of obtaining the highly sought-after state license. If successful, Keystone will become one of only a dozen businesses to grow and process medical marijuana oils, pills, tinctures and ointments statewide, in accordance with state law.
The products manufactured in the Limerick facility would be sold to patients with debilitating illnesses like epilepsy, cancer, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Parkinson’s Disease, nausea and chronic pain.
“What that means is we will not be producing a raw flower to be consumed like the recre-
“It’s pharmaceutical like in that sense. I want people to get passed that stigma of it’s just rolling a joint and you smoke.” — Kara Shuler, chairwoman of the Limerick Township Board of Supervisors
ational states,” said Billingsley. “The products manufactured in our facility are specific to medical patients that qualify in any one of the 17 conditions outlined in the rules and regulations from the department of health.”
Since medical marijuana was legalized last spring, competition has become fierce to be among the first organizations granted a license. Similar efforts are underway locally in Lower Pottsgrove and West Pottsgrove townships.
The legalized marijuana market is currently a $7.1 billion industry in the United States and is expected grow to over $26 billion over the next 10 years.
Pennsylvania is one of 29 states that has a program regarding the sale of the product. The state plans to eventually increase the number of licenses granted to 25, but slowly over time, Billingsley said. Pennsylvania will be divided into six regions.
That means the first two licensed medical marijuana manufacturers in the Southeastern Pennsylvania region will be responsible for 32 percent of the state’s population and will be approved to operate three facilities, he said. Keystone plans to submit its application to the department of health in about 30 days and it will take about six months before a decision is reached. It will take another six months or so to build out the facility in Limerick and become operational.
“It’s going to be a slow moving process in Pennsylvania,” he said.
While the facility in Limerick is currently boarded up, Billingsley said it fits the criteria for what Keystone is looking for.
“We like this location because it’s away from the community,” said Billingsley. “This building is designed to be extremely secure, extremely safe, hardened and out of sight, out of mind.”
The heavily secured facility would be similar to other pharmaceutical manufacturers like Pfizer or AstraZeneca in that it wouldn’t sell any products from the location but instead transport them to state licensed dispensaries, he said.
In order for an organization pining for a license to stand out from the pack, it needs to show the state it has support from its local community and a facility able to handle the manufacturing process, he said. Support from the board of supervisors would go a long way in accomplishing that task. The board was open to the idea and wanted to continue working with Billingsley. They needed time to speak to board member Joseph St. Pedro, who was absent before continuing the conversation.
Supervisors’ Chairwoman Kara Shuler emphasized that the proposed business would be manufacturing medical products for patients in need.
“It’s not the pot growing on your window sill,” she said. “It’s pharmaceutical like in that sense. I want people to get passed that stigma of it’s just rolling a joint and you smoke.”