Since lawmakers approved medical marijuana in Maryland, the nascent industry has been mired in legal and political controversy.
A judge is deciding whether the state improperly awarded licenses to grow and process the plant. Black lawmakers said minorities didn't have a fair chance of getting those licenses. Now the governor has ordered a study.
ForwardGro isn't waiting to see how it all turns out.
The firm in Anne Arundel County has poured more than $10 million into building a state-of-the-art greenhouse in the basin of a reclaimed sand mine.
Jake Van Wingerden, president of SunMed Growers in Cecil County, said his company expects to finish construction of its facility in July. At a meeting this month of his association's 13 growers, he said, "everybody expressed optimism that they are on schedule."
ForwardGro and its sprawling 2-acre compound in southern Anne Arundel County is poised this week to receive final inspection to secure a license to grow medical marijuana, company executives said.
As early as this month, the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission could allow them to turn on the lights and begin growing the first medical marijuana plants — more than four years after the state made it legal.
The facility will be capable of generating 9,000 pounds of medical marijuana each year, with a retail value of roughly $45 million. And the 153-acre property has enough land to accommodate up to 24 acres of greenhouses, which theoretically could grow 216,000 pounds of marijuana a year.
Read more at The Baltimore Sun
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