While lawmakers weigh whether to call a special session for medical marijuana, dispensaries are pushing ahead. One grower is preparing to open its first retail outlet.
Knox Medical will open its dispensary in Gainesville later this week, and it has plans to open an Orlando outlet in a couple weeks. CEO Jose Hidalgo says they have a handful of other locations in the pipeline, and he opposes the idea of capping the number of storefronts growers can open.
“I don’t think it makes any sense doing that for the following reasons—you’re going to see companies focusing on largely dense demographic areas,” Hidalgo says. “South Florida, central Florida where they’re mostly densely populated.”
Capping retail locations first emerged in a Florida Senate proposal and crippled negotiations as the legislative session wound down.
Knox Medical wants to open stores in Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Lake Worth and St. Petersburg. There are currently seven retail locations: five operated by Trulieve and one each from Modern Health Concepts and Surterra Therapeutics.
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