EDGEWATER — The race is on for medical marijuana dispensaries in the Volusia-Flagler area.

The first medical marijuana dispensary in the two counties recently found a home in Edgewater. An effort to bring a dispensary to Port Orange took a step forward Thursday, while DeLand has also been targeted.

Voters’ approval of Amendment 2, allowing more patients with a wider range of debilitating medical conditions to be treated with low-THC medical marijuana, became law in January. But the House and Senate have to iron out the new law’s restrictions. The branches put forth separate legislation and both bills moved forward this week. Lawmakers could craft and vote on a new joint measure as early as next week.

In the meantime, though, medical pot businesses aren’t waiting for Tallahassee to set regulations before they try to stake claim on local territory.

Edging into Edgewater

Trulieve, one of seven medical cannabis license holders in the state, has already been approved to move into a small shopping plaza next to an equipment rental business and a tattoo parlor in Edgewater, across U.S. Highway 1 from the Florida Shores Plaza.

In a vote earlier this year, the Edgewater City Council made room for one dispensary north of Indian River Boulevard, and another to the south of the road. Trulieve's 102 Boston Road location is expected to eventually occupy the southern site.

In an email from the company, Trulieve spokesperson Victoria Walker said construction at the site is underway and they hope to open their doors in about six weeks.

"We love Edgewater," Walker said when asked why the company chose the city as its first foray into the Volusia area. "It’s very central in the east coast, which allows for greater patient access in picking up their medication. We also deliver statewide, so Edgewater will allow for us to deliver to patients who need it much faster."

Walker said each store has the same look, feel and product line.

An eye on DeLand

Trulieve has five locations throughout Florida and is operating under rules set forth in 2014 until the new regulations take effect.

According to Trulieve, at least 20 more city dispensaries are in the works throughout the state and DeLand is among them. The county seat is currently weighing a land development code change — like Edgewater's — to allow for a conditional use. That proposal under consideration by the city's planning board April 19 was continued to a future meeting.

City spokesperson Chris Graham confirmed the city has been contacted by Trulieve and added the proposed code change would address only retail establishments — not growing or processing.

According to Edgewater spokesperson Jill Danigel, Trulieve is in the process of obtaining a business tax receipt, which she said would serve to provide "checks and balances." The process would make sure requirements are followed and inspections take place, Danigel said Tuesday.

Port Orange plans

And in Port Orange, the city's planning board approved Surterra Therapeutics' proposal for a storefront at 3510 Nova Road in a 5-1 vote Thursday.

Atlanta-based Surterra wants to establish a Port Orange dispensary off Nova Road in the Tuscan Village Shoppes plaza, just south of Madeline Avenue. And after the commission seemed to be allayed by assurances the site would be secure, the board largely approved of the company's plan. The lone dissenting vote came from Commissioner Lance Green.

“I just didn’t know if it’s the right spot,” Green said after the meeting.

Vice President of Experiential Retail & Operations Lance Ramsay tried to address concerns, including security, the customers and neighbors nearby.

Ramsay said Surterra is using a bank, security guards at the retail sites and a service that retrieves cash-on-hand.

“We try to cycle that cash through very quickly,” Ramsay said.

He also said all the products in the front half of the store would be what he called “inert,” meaning they had no THC, the product of the plant that can give patients a “high.” The regulated products would be kept secured in the back of the store, he said.

Commissioner Maria Mills-Benat also questioned whether there were any doctors licensed to order the drug for patients in Port Orange.

According to the latest numbers in the Florida Department of Health registry, no Port Orange doctors had been certified as of Thursday night, but the list contained 17 throughout the Volusia-Flagler area.

The issue will go the the City Council next for debate.

Should the council give a thumbs-up, Nicholas Monette, the company's vice president of real estate, said he hopes to have a retail location open by the end of this year — sometime after October, along with six or seven other retail stores.

Surterra has one dispensary in Tampa and this month announced plans to open another in Pensacola later this year. And Ramsay mentioned hopes for a national brand, adding the company has applied for licensing in Texas and Pennsylvania.

House, Senate update

While cities like Edgewater open their doors to medical marijuana, lawmakers are discussing details for the new law.

Bills in both the House and Senate moved through committees this week, but the branches don't agree on how restrictive the regulations should be.

The House wants to ban edibles and vaping and continues a demand a 90-day waiting period before a doctor can order the drug for a new patient. The Senate bill allows for vaping and edibles and would also allow for more licenses as the number of cannabis patients grows.

Attorney Richard Blau, who has closely followed Florida's medical marijuana law, said that while odd turns have come to pass during final negotiations for other laws and he hesitates to say anything is out of the question, he believes the final legislation will likely be a cross between the two existing bills.

"Nobody is going to do a complete 180 on this," said Blau of the legislation heading to a conference committee. "They've got a fixed set of parameters. ... They'll have to work out the differences."

The attorney, who chairs the Regulated Products Department at Gray and Robinson, P.A., said the state's decisions won't likely have a bearing on how many dispensaries there are statewide. That, he said, is up to local officials like those in Port Orange and Edgewater.

Blau hopes cities consider reasonable patient access while making decisions.

"Setting up one dispensary in the entire county, if you have a pretty big county," Blau said, "can sometimes be problematic."

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