Diving deep into Huron's new dispensary

HURON — Proprietors of Huron's first medical marijuana dispensary — and Erie County's second, with the other located in Sandusky — opened up about their operations just days before debuting. In an exclusive interview with the Register, two high-ranking employees representing Firelands Scientific Dispensary — marketing manager Meaghan Earley and vice president of sales Rob McCourt — divulged details on what people can expect: Q: What is Firelands Scientific Dispensary? A: Firelands Scientific Dispensary is a retail store for medical cannabis products that is here to serve patients in the state of Ohio. This is our first retail location, located on the campus of our headquarters and production facility in Huron. Q: Original plans called for the dispensary to be built years ago, and, at one time, in a former Burger King property. What happened? A: Anytime you build something from the ground up, hurdles are to be expected, which may cause significant delays. We experienced our fair share of hurdles, our most recent being Ohio weather causing delays in our buildout, and we also encountered a shortage in materials due to COVID. We have a resilient team who have found creative ways to overcome each obstacle we have faced. There are also hurdles when it comes to breaking stigmas around medical cannabis, however, we are happy to be working toward breaking those down and educating the benefits medical marijuana can offer to patients. We're thrilled to be here in Huron, we're proud to add more members to our team, and we cannot wait until our opening day (later on) in May. Q: Where is it located? A: Firelands Scientific Dispensary is located at 2344 University Drive E. in Huron (in the Huron Corporate Park). We are excited to share that the view from the dispensary is actually our main campus, so customers can see where their medicine is grown and created. It's very much a campus environment with our headquarters, cultivation and processing being immediately next door to the dispensary, which really embodies that farm-to-table feeling. Q: What is the connection between this and the neighboring cultivation center? A: Firelands Scientific Dispensary is owned by Firelands Scientific. We have an incredibly unique campus environment where our patients can see our main campus facility through the windows of our dispensary. Every Firelands Scientific product is created at our state-of-the-art sustainable production facility located on the same campus, which makes our dispensary so unique in providing our patients the opportunity to see where their medicine is made and the passionate team behind our products. Our licensed name is Ohio Patients' Choice, but the cultivation center is now Firelands Scientific. Q: In Ohio medical marijuana dispensaries have parent, or affiliated, companies. Who is yours? A: Firelands Scientific Dispensary's parent company is Firelands Scientific. We're an Ohio-based company, founded by Ohioans, headquartered in Huron. We employ over 120 team members locally and enjoy partnering with local establishments. Firelands Scientific is a vertically integrated medical cannabis company that has been operational since 2018. Our products were the first medical cannabis to be legally sold in Ohio in January 2019, and we are the only B-Corp certified medical cannabis company in the world. What that means is that we've designed our business from the ground up to focus on having a net positive impact on our stakeholders — our community, our team, our environment, our vendors and, most importantly, our patients. Q: Can you please share with me a timeline, both past and upcoming, of notable dates related to this facility? A: We received our cultivation license in late 2017, stood up our 55,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art facility in the Huron Corporate Park within eight months, and we're the first operator to sell legal cannabis products within the state of Ohio in January 2019. Since then, we've been developing a portfolio of medical products to meet the diverse needs of our growing patient base in Ohio. We anticipate that our dispensary will be open to serve patients within the next week or two. Q: How many licenses has the state, to date, issued for dispensaries to operate in Ohio? What number is Firelands Scientific? A: There are a total of 59 licenses that were provisionally awarded to date, 52 of which are currently operational. We are proud that Firelands Scientific distributes products to nearly all of the dispensaries in the state. We expect our retail store in Huron to be the 53rd operational dispensary in the state of Ohio, which we expect to be within the next week or two. Q: Who does your business aim to serve? A: Our mission is to uplift our patients and customers with high-quality, sustainably produced medicine. While we pursue this mission, we are constantly guided by our values. They are the internal compass that remains at the core of everything we do at Firelands Scientific. Q: Who, specifically, will you serve? What qualifications must they meet to receive your products? A: We will enjoy the privilege to serve all patients who have a recommendation for medical cannabis, commonly referred to as an Ohio medical marijuana card. To obtain a recommendation, patients must visit a doctor with a certificate to recommend medical cannabis. The doctor will confirm that the patient has a qualifying condition and is able to benefit from our products. The Ohio Medical Board has approved the use of medical cannabis to help treat and alleviate the symptoms associated with a variety of medical conditions and ailments. There are currently 22 qualifying conditions eligible for treatment with medical cannabis in Ohio. They include AIDS ; Alzheimer's; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS); cachexia, wasting syndrome; cancer; chronic pain; Crohn's; Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE); epilepsy or another seizure disorder; fibromyalgia; glaucoma ; HIV; hepatitis C; inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); multiple sclerosis; Parkinson's; post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); sickle cell anemia; spinal cord injury; Tourette syndrome; traumatic brain injury (TBI); and ulcerative colitis. Q: How will this dispensary operate? A: The process is pretty simple: • Firelands Scientific Dispensary will serve all patients who have a current Ohio Medical Marijuana Card. • Patients will be able to fill out one of our patient intake forms upon their arrival to our dispensary or ahead of time via our website. • We will be offering patient consultations and "FastLane" pick-up for patients who already know what products they need. We'll also be offering virtual consultations to our patients, too. Q: After debuting, when will the dispensary be open? A: Our hours of operation will be 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week. We will honor holiday hours, which will be posted on our website and social media platforms. Q: What type of products, specifically, will the dispensary sell? A: Firelands Scientific Dispensary will carry flower, vape cartridges, tinctures, topicals, edibles and a host of accessories. We'll be carrying a combination of our own products as well as customer favorite products all with competitive pricing that should give patients outside the region many reasons to come visit us in Huron. Each and every single product that we bring into our dispensary will be selected with our patients' best interest in mind. We're here because of our patients and the people who purchase our products. They are the lifeblood of our company. We're most looking forward to receiving direct feedback from our patients. This is the first opportunity for us to receive this feedback other than our product feedback survey we offer our patients at a wholesale level. We listen to our patients, and we're looking forward to taking their feedback to perfect what we do. Q: How much could these products costs? A: The price range for Firelands Scientific products can vary from $21 to $150, which is mostly based on the quantity and strength of product that a patient needs. Q: Will any of these products be covered by insurance providers? A: Unfortunately, most insurance providers do not cover patient purchases, but we do hope to see that change in the near future. Q: Are there any limitations or restrictions on the quantities one can buy? A: The Ohio Medical Marijuana Card Program does limit how much medicine each patient can purchase. Our educated team will assist patients in knowing what they can purchase and their current amount. Q: What type of quality assurance can you guarantee to customers? A: We strive to offer the best in customer service to our patients as well as a high-quality product. From the moment a patient walks into our dispensary, they will be surrounded by educational information to help them learn more about how their medicine is made and what it is best used for. Q: Why type of vetting/verification process will customers undergo before purchasing a product at Firelands? A: Before our patients can make a purchase with us, patients need to have their active Ohio Medical Marijuana Card patient or caregiver card as well as a valid state ID that was used when registering for the program. Patients will need to fill out a patient intake form that, after their first visit, we will keep on file. Patients will only need to fill this form out once, on their first visit, unless they wish to make any changes or updates to their account profile. Q: As of today, how many people in Ohio have a medical marijuana card? How many patients does Firelands expect to serve? A: As of today, there are (176,000-plus) patients registered in the state of Ohio. We hope to serve the city of Huron, those traveling to Cedar Point and Put-In-Bay and, honestly, any patient who would like to experience the level of customer satisfaction that can be found here at Firelands Scientific Dispensary.