Medical marijuana dispensary to open in Carson City

Carson City’s first medical marijuana dispensary will open at the south end of town in September.

Pete Kadens of Green Thumb Industries said the company also has licenses for medical marijuana facilities in Illinois and is one of the applicants in Maryland.

The dispensary will be called Rise Carson City and will be located on East Clearview Drive across the street from Kohl’s and Olive Garden.

“Our goal is to provide the dignity of health care and well being to people who need health care,” he said.

The dispensary will provide a full range of products including traditional pot buds, concentrates, vaping oils, topicals and select edibles.

“Everything patients would want,” Kadens said.

Kadens said he understands the concerns of opponents to medical marijuana and legalization — especially related to edibles because, at this point, there are no controls on how strong those edibles are.

“I don’t blame them for that,” he said. “That’s where the lack of federal regulation becomes an issue and one bad apple could spoil the bushel.”

GTI, he said, “will be very thoughtful about how we purchase our edibles and who we get them from.”

He said there are 600 patients registered in Carson City.

In addition, since Douglas County has opted out of the medical marijuana program, he said he expects to get some business from cardholders who live there.

“That makes it a pretty dense place in terms of patients,” he said adding the next closest dispensary will be in Washoe County — Reno or Incline Village.

Across the country, he said GTI’s investment is “in the millions to get these licensed, up and running.”

He said the physical modifications to their store location is going to be completed in about 10 days but at this point, he doesn’t have a grand opening date. One of the critical issues, he said, is security. He said their chief of security nationwide is Terry Gainer, former Sergeant at Arms for the U.S. Senate and ex-chief of the U.S. Capital Police.

“We have a pretty pro-active plan here in Carson City: 360 degree cameras, 24-seven surveillance and always security on site. We’ve got to make patients and employees feel good about their safety.”

The building also required major modifications to comply with the requirement that passersby won’t be able to see any marijuana products from outside.

FTI also has licenses for a cultivation and production plants in Carson City and another dispensary in Washoe County.

While Rise will be first to open its doors, it won’t be the only Carson City dispensary since the law allows two in the capital. The other operated by Sierra Wellness Connection, which already has a Reno dispensary, is preparing a location on Technology Way at the north end of Carson City and planning to open for business in October.