Delawareans who use medical marijuana and live in central Delaware will have to wait until at least next spring before a new medical marijuana facility opens in Milford.
No reason was given for the six month delay, leaving some people - like Debra McPherson-Nau - unhappy. McPherson-Nau runs the independent medical marijuana advocacy group The Delaware Patient Network.
She says having that third dispensary when it eventually opens, will benefit Delawareans who use medical marijuana, but she feels the location selected is less than optimal.
“Putting it there puts all the patients in Kent County at a disadvantage that live in Dover, Smyrna. They still have to drive way too far to get what they need,”said McPherson-Nau.“Kent County is a big county, but Milford is all the way down, too close to the already opened dispensary that we have down there in Lewes.”
Delaware awarded the contract to run that Lewes dispensary to First State Compassion Center in 2016 and it opened it May. First State Compassion Center also operates the state’s initial dispensary in Wilmington,which opened in 2015.
The planned Milford location will be operated by New York-based Columbia Care.
Milford Mayor Bryan Shupe says the new Milford facility will be to grow and manufacture medical products only; he says it will NOT be a dispensary because a dispensary is NOT allowed in the planned location under City code.
Milford City Planner Rob Pierce says the city has issued a permit for cultivation only. "We have not issued a permit for a dispensary. The location they have chosen (the Milford Industrial Park), is zoned for the cultivation portion of the business as it is considered manufacturing. If they want to add a dispensary, they will need to apply for zoning with the Planning Commission, but as of now they have not asked to put a dispensary at that location."
Currently, according to the Department of Public Health, there are more than 500 people living in Kent County certified to use medical marijuana; statewide, as of July 1, there are 3,588 people certified by their doctors to smoke pot.
