Editor's note: This story has been updated from its original version to reflect that Trulieve is based in the Tallahassee area.

TAMPA — The white-and-green-trimmed building is barely noticeable from the road.

Driving along the busy Dale Mabry Highway, motorists speed past, seemingly without noticing the Trulieve name in large purple-and-green letters or its motto: "Relief ... Naturally."

They might not even realize inside the building, medical marijuana is sold daily.

Communities across the state are becoming more familiar with the Trulieve name as they deal with a new state law regulating the use of medical marijuana and how it's sold.

Coming your way: marijuana

A dispensary could be coming to a community near you.

After passage of Amendment 2 in 2016 legalized the use of medical marijuana, many communities approved local restrictions on where marijuana dispensaries could open.

But the Legislature this year negated those efforts and gave communities only two choices: treat these dispensaries as pharmacies allowable in commercial zones or ban them altogether.

MORE:Poll: Should patients in Florida be allowed to smoke medical marijuana?

MORE:Vero Beach OKs first marijuana dispensary on Treasure, Space coasts

By October, there could be as many as 425 dispensaries in five regions of Florida, according to regulations the Legislature passed in June. The number of outlets will increase gradually until the cap expires in 2020, according to the new law.

Tallahassee-area-based Trulieve, one of seven state-approved dispensary companies, gave the USA TODAY NETWORK a glimpse inside its Tampa dispensary. In addition to Tampa, it has facilities in Tallahassee, Pensacola, Clearwater, Edgewater, Lady Lake, St. Petersburg, Jacksonville and Miami.

It plans to open in Vero Beach, St. Lucie County, Palm Bay, Fort Myers, Bradenton, Clearwater, Gainesville, Orlando, Dunedin, Deland, Fort Lauderdale, Madeira Beach, Miami and Hollywood within the next year.

Trulieve officials have promised local communities it has safeguards and policies in place that make its dispensaries blend in with their surroundings while giving clients access to their medication.

MORE:Fort Pierce: To ban or not to ban medical marijuana dispensaries

MORE:Indian River County might be region's first to ban medical marijuana dispensaries

Inside Trulieve

Take the Tampa operation, for example.

The dispensary, which opened Jan. 31 and sees 30-50 customers a day, has cameras inside and outside. A uniformed company security guard is on site throughout the day, and at least two employees always are on duty, spokeswoman Victoria Walker said.

There have been no incidents reported at the Tampa dispensary.

Across the highway are apartment complexes and a Village Inn restaurant, serving its all-day breakfasts and pies. Next door is an auto parts store. A day care facility is within walking distance.

Come inside and you could just as easily be walking into any doctor's waiting room, furnished with padded chairs, a sofa and coffee tables.

Here, however, employees check to ensure a client is listed in the state database of qualified medical-marijuana recipients. It confirms the client has visited a state-approved doctor and meets criteria to use medical marijuana.

MORE:Local medical marijuana rules likely to be scrapped in wake of new state dispensary bill

Only then are clients allowed through a set of white-frosted glass doors, leaving friends and relatives not in the database in the waiting room.

Once inside the product-display room, clients are surrounded by glass counters showing the oils, vapes, topical creams and other marijuana products that were illegal in Florida just nine months ago.

The display room works like a jewelry store: Just ask for something to be taken out of a display case and an employee obliges, all the while providing information on the product, including how it is used and what conditions it treats.

A bright-green neon sign displays prices. A little short on cash? There's an ATM in the product room.

The database shows each client's prescription so they don't, and can't, buy marijuana products beyond their prescriptions.

Multiple products, such as a vape cartridge to use throughout the day or a dissoluble capsule with longer-lasting effects, can be sold to clients, if their prescriptions allow.

Mixing products has helped Danny Pope, of Tampa, wean himself off 10 years' of pain medication. He uses a dose of oil in the morning or at night for pain from his herniated disks. If he needs it, he may use a vape cartridge during the day for anxiety.



"So if you're at 8, 9, 10 on your anxiety (scale), you take a couple of (puffs) and it brings you back down to 1 or 2, something controllable. So you're back to normal, back to ground," he said.

"It's changed my whole entire life," said Pope, who installs underground fiber and utilities. He usually visits the dispensary after work on Fridays.

MORE:Port St. Lucie deciding how to handle medical marijuana dispensaries

Products can be expensive. And, unlike a doctor's office, there are no free samples here. Inventory is kept in a separate, secure room in the back of the dispensary.

A cannabis-oil vape cartridge costs $37 or $74, depending on the strength of what you're buying and the type of cannabis used.

A bottle of 25 capsules, 10 milligram strength, costs $60; it's $116 for 50 milligrams.

MORE:St. Lucie County gets first application for medical-marijuana dispensary

Products arrive at the dispensary prepackaged, so there's no counting tablets or measuring liquids. Clients purchase an entire sealed product, as if buying a bottle of aspirin from the pharmacy.

But don't think you can crack open a jar just like you'd rip open a candy bar at a convenience store. Clients are prohibited from using products on site, even in the parking lot.

"It's safer that way. We want them to take it home," Walker said.

Positive reviews

Tommy Thomas, a Vietnam veteran from Sun City Center who has post-traumatic stress disorder, said his anxiety is so severe he often can't talk with people or be around others.

"Who wants to live that kind of life?" he asked. "With (Trulieve products), I can talk to people. I can function like a normal human being."

All Trulieve products are manufactured at the company's grow farm in Quincy, northwest of Tallahassee, Walker said.

"(The farm) is indoors. We don't use any pesticides," she said. "Every product that we make has to be lab-tested three times."

Without the dispensaries and a legal way to access the medication they need, customers say, they might have to resort to getting it illegally.

"It's easier to go to a controlled environment and get what you need," Pope said.

The facilities, he said, are safe, both for customers and for the community.



"You don't even know (the facilities) are there."

Staff writer Lisa Broadt contributed to this report.

Qualifying for medical marijuana

Under Florida law, there is no waiting period for new patients. Thousands of Florida physicians have completed the required education course to become qualified to prescribe medical marijuana.

Qualifying conditions:

Cancer

Epilepsy

Glaucoma

HIV/AIDS

ALS

Chrohn's disease

Parkinson's disease

Multiple sclerosis

A medical condition of the same kind or class as those listed above

Chronic pain that originated from one of the qualifying conditions

A doctor must:

Determine that medical marijuana likely would outweigh potential health risks for the patient

Check the patient's prescription history in the Prescription Drug Monitoring Database

Recertify the patient every 30 weeks

A patient must:

Provide proof of residency

Register with the Florida Department of Health

Possess an identification card

Source: Florida Department of Health