Site of First New Hampshire Medical Grow Site Approved

New Hampshire officials announced the approval of a location for the first registered medical marijuana growing facility, marking a sign of progress in an implementation that has experienced serious delays.

NHPR reports:

The Department of Health and Human Services issued a conditional registration certificate to Sanctuary ATC, which plans to open a dispensary in Plymouth, to start growing medical marijuana at a designated cultivation site in Rochester.

The move to issue conditional certifications is an attempt by DHHS to speed up the launch of the dispensaries by allowing the companies to start growing the plants before their dispensaries are ready to open.

According to state health officials overseeing the therapeutic cannabis program, it can take three to four months to cultivate usable medical marijuana.

It's been a long road to see New Hampshire’s medical marijuana program through to reality. The law setting up such a program went into effect in July 2013, but no dispensaries have actually opened to the public. DHHS says it’s expecting Sanctuary ATC’s dispensary to open sometime this spring.