Chicago company wants to open medical marijuana dispensary in Bethlehem Township — it likely won’t be the last

Already the state’s third largest population center, the fast-growing Lehigh Valley will likely see more demand for medical marijuana, says a representative of a Chicago company that wants to help meet that need in Bethlehem Township.Justice Grown Pennsylvania CEO Abbe Kruger went before the township Board of Commissioners on Monday night to get conditional use permit to open a medical marijuana dispensary, which would be the first in the township.Because more testimony was needed, coupled with a time restraint, commissioners decided to continue the hearing to a date not yet set. Kruger said the company operates two dispensaries in Luzerne County — one in Edwardsville and the other in Dickson City.She testified that the company has state approval to open a third facility, which is proposed for a vacant 3,200-square-foot store at the Bethlehem Village Shops on Route 191 near the intersection of Christian Springs Road.“We haven’t had any difficulties” operating the dispensaries, she told the board.Kruger said the dispensary would be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and until 5 p.m. Saturday.Anyone entering the building, she said, would be checked by a security guard, who would verify the person’s identity and whether they have the required documentation to obtain medical marijuana.Once verified, the person would then get to the sales floor, which she said would only be able to be entered through an electronically secured door.She testified the dispensary could see a daily average of 25 to 100 customers.“We’re estimating about 800 [a week] once we get up and running,” she said.The dispensary could be operating six months after a permit is granted.Five to seven deliveries to the facility, which would have extensive interior and exterior surveillance systems, would be made per week through a secure, enclosed delivery dock at the rear of the building.She said the types of marijuana products to be sold, by prescription only, include leaf or flower, lotions, capsules, cartridge vapor and drops. Prices range from $10 to $150.At least one resident expressed disapproval of such a business, associating it with the opioid crisis, but after the hearing, Kruger said, “Once you have someone you care about able to find relief, the stigma [of marijuana] goes away. It will be a very positive addition to the community.”She said Justice Grown likely won’t be the last dispensary to want to open in the Lehigh Valley, which already has three dispensaries and two more planned for this year.“There will probably be more than just us coming here,” she said.The township issued a conditional use permit in 2017 to Keystone Canna Remedies for a medical marijuana dispensary that was to open on Bagylos Circle in Lehigh Valley Industrial Park VI.Commissioner Mike Hudak said after the meeting that Keystone never opened in the township but did so at a site on Stefko Boulevard in Bethlehem city.Charles Malinchak is a freelance writer for The Morning Call.
Source: Morningcall