EASTHAMPTON — The scent of orange filled the air as Mark Wikar, head chef at INSA’s marijuana growing and processing facility, stirred ingredients to make flavored marijuana-laden gummy candies.

It was a welcome break from what can, at times, be an overwhelming smell of marijuana within the maze of rooms for growing, trimming, sorting, processing and selling.

It’s a farm, factory and store at 122 Pleasant St. in the former West Boylston Co. mill complex, built in the first decade of the 20th century.

Making the gummies is a tricky process, Wikar said, because not only do they need to taste right and have the proper gummy consistency, but the marijuana extracts manufactured in the INSA laboratory next door need to be evenly distributed through the mixture.

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The user can’t get a heavy dose of active ingredients in one gummy and too little of a punch in the next one.

"There is an art and a science to it," he said before chatting with company CEO Mark Zatyrka about creating a new sour apple flavor.

The sour apple gummies would be a special treat for the expected opening of INSA’s retail location in Salem, Massachusetts this fall, where a Halloween theme seems appropriate.

With the Salem opening near, INSA is on a growth path. In Springfield, Mayor Domenic J. Sarno’s administration selected INSA as one of the first four recreational marijuana applications it will approve. INSA plans its shop, which will require final city and state approvals, in the former Luxe Burger restaurant on the riverfront.

INSA and the city are now negotiating a host community agreement, Zatyrka said.

The trimming room at the INSA marijuana dispensary in Easthampton, July 18, 2019. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

INSA already has a medical marijuana facility on Cottage Street in Springfield. The company is building a medical marijuana growing operation in Pennsylvania, as well.

The Massachusetts expansion is going to require more product, which is already in short supply.

INSA has limits on how much a recreational customer can buy that are lower than the what’s allowed under state law. And, Zatykra said INSA also quit wholesaling marijuana to other retailers.

To meet the expected demand, INSA is tripling its growing capacity in Easthampton from 30,000 square feet to 90,000.

Workers are now building white-walled grow rooms outfitted with bright electric lights and all the pipes and tubes necessary to deliver nutrient-filled water to plants growing in cocoons of shredded coconut husk.

Zatyrka said INSA is bringing the new grow areas online slowly, adding plants as space is ready for them.

With that, INSA will add to its current staff of 150 employees, with plans to top 200 Massachusetts workers by the start of 2020.

Workers start at about $14 to $16 an hour, Zatyrka said, but there are promotions to high-paid jobs as supervisors and team leaders. Most employees come in with no formal experience in this new industry.

“A lot of it is customer service; retail employees are good for us, bartenders, waitstaff, retail employees,” he said. “Those are the skillsets we need.”

Since voters legalized recreational marijuana in Massachusetts in November 2016, 22 adult use recreational marijuana establishments have opened. The state has also seen 16 cultivators begin operation, according to statistics kept by the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission.

INSA Inc. has proposed opening a recreational marijuana store at the Luxe Burger Bar in Springfield at 1200 West Columbus Ave.

The states has also approved 50 medical use dispensaries.

"I think we still have a way to go before we are oversaturated," Zatyrka said.

He said business hasn’t been impacted too much as more recreational dispensaries have opened, including one that began sales earlier this month in Chicopee.

If anything, it means the adult use businesses now must compete on quality, price and service, just as any other business.

"We think we have something unique here," he said.

The industry is also consolidating, meaning a mid-size operation like INSA has to work hard to secure its niche. That’s one of the reasons Wikar is always experimenting with new flavors and products.

INSA is owned by partners and investors Patrick Gottschlicht and Peter Gallagher, with Zatryka as a minority partner.

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