TALLAHASSEE – Within the next couple of months, a medical marijuana dispensary will open in Killearn.
Construction is ongoing at 1639 Village Square Blvd. on Surterra Wellness Center, a one thousand square foot facility which will employ 15 people.
Surterra will be the second dispensary in Tallahassee. Trulieve became Florida’s first medical marijuana dispensary when it opened on Southeast Capital Circle in July 2016.
Surterra Therapeutics, an Atlanta-based company, opened its flagship wellness center in Tampa, near the University of South Florida, in August 2016. Tallahassee is their second dispensary.
Surterra has plans to open more dispensaries across the state in the next few months and, eventually in other states as well.
Spokesperson Monica Russel describes the dispensary as a cross between Whole Foods and a spa.
She said the walk-in wellness center/dispensary will have a kitchen area, designed to resemble a place where a family would come together to discuss the events of the day. There will also be a garden area for customers to view the products for sale.
“People will find the dispensary totally different from what they expect,” Russel said. “It is designed to be open, welcoming and educational.”
Florida’s Compassionate Care Act, signed into law in 2014, regulates the use of low-THC marijuana (the kind that does not get a patient high) for people suffering from three types of illnesses: cancer, seizures, or muscle spasms. These patients can receive low-grade cannabis after fulfilling a three-month waiting period from the patient’s first visit with the doctor. Terminally ill patients can get full-strength marijuana after two doctors agree the patient has less than a year to live.
Under Amendment 2, which went into effect in January, people with cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS and several other specific debilitating medical conditions can also buy full-strength marijuana.
Nothing more than a trojan horse.