GUELPH—It was only one year ago that Rade Kovacevic set up shop in the Guelph Chamber of Commerce building to run his medical marijuana business.

Now the entrepreneur and his two partners plan to open four 'solution centres' for MedCannAccess across southern Ontario, including one in Guelph in August, to consult patients with questions about prescriptions and drug regulations.

The company, valued at $23 million, dispenses "high-quality, low-cost" medical marijuana to patients with chronic disabilities.

It will open its first solution centre in July in Etobicoke. Guelph will follow suit a month later with a location on the second floor of Old Quebec Street Mall.

"We don't think that working with patients through an e-commerce website or a call centre alone is the best way to provide patient support around a medical product," Kovacevic said Thursday.

Instead, staff with a social services background will provide free 45-minute consultations on site, he said.

Kovacevic, a medical marijuana user, said new patients are likely to have questions about filling out complicated paperwork, safe modes of ingestion and housing regulations, among other things. The centres will be open to all patients.

The solution centres mark another milestone for MedCannAccess since the bio-pharmaceutical company launched a year ago. It achieved profit for the first time in March and has acquired $3.2 million in private investment. It employs 13 people, with six more hires soon expected, Kovacevic said.

This success stands in stark contrast to Kovacevic's previous marijuana-related venture, the Medical Cannabis Centre of Guelph, which he oversaw on Baker Street for several years.

The centre produced and sold medical marijuana to those with Health Canada permits or other supporting documentation.