BATH
If all goes according to plan, Wellness Connection of Maine will have a new medical marijuana dispensary up and running in downtown Bath in less than a month.
Wellness Connection, which was founded in 2011, is the largest medical marijuana dispensary in Maine, operating half of the state’s eight dispensaries.
It has four locations: Portland, Brewer, Gardiner and Thomaston, which is being moved to Bath.
Patients of the Thomaston dispensary will not see any disruption in service as the facility physically moves to Bath, and Wellness Connection has even offered deliveries for some patients.
In Maine, medical marijuana dispensaries must operate in one of eight districts. Due to its location, the Bath dispensary will be able to serve residents of Waldo, Lincoln, Knox and Sagadahoc counties. Wellness Connection’s three other locations allows them to serve patients in other districts in well.
No plants are grown or processed at the dispensary. Instead, medical marijuana plants are grown in a central Maine location, trimmed and processed before being securely delivered to their dispensary locations. For downtown Bath residents, this means there’s no reason to worry about the pungent odor of marijuana infiltrating the busy streets.
“We have a centralized growth site in the center of the state that feeds all our dispensaries,” said Patricia Rosi, the nonprofit’s CEO. “So there’s no packaging, processing, any of that. Everything is done remotely at our supply production site, where we have cultivation, processing, extraction, but also we have packaging and logistics.”
Each registered medical marijuana patient can grow up to six plants to harvest. Those who choose to use a caregiver or dispensary simply outsource the process to a licensed producer, who grows and cares for the plants instead.
Rosi noted that although the company can grow up to six plants for each of its more than 13,000 patients, it is efficient enough that it only uses about 15 percent of the plants it could theoretically grow.
Recently, Wellness Connection came out in support of Question 1, a ballot initiative that would legalize recreational consumption of marijuana in Maine. While it’s unclear what regulations and requirements would be in place if the referendum passed, Rosi stated that her organization could potentially serve recreational marijuana consumers as well, although that decision is far off at the moment.
Rosi also said that the organization is very community oriented, and it drives about 10 percent of its sales back into the community. Wellness Connection has been especially involved in the Portland area through donations and fundraisers, and is excited to get involved in the Bath area.
The new dispensary will be located on Centre Street in downtown Bath.
nstrout@timesrecord.com
Pot places
• WELLNESS Connection of Maine, which was founded in 2011, is the largest medical marijuana dispensary in Maine, operating half of the state’s eight dispensaries. It has four locations: Portland, Brewer, Gardiner and Thomaston, which is being moved to Bath.
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