Joel Allcock is quick to dispel any misconceptions about who will be using the state’s first medical marijuana dispensary.

These are real patients, not people trying to do an end-run around the legal system, he said.

“The typical profile for one of our patients is not a 25-to-35-year-old white male with dreadlocks and a Grateful Dead T-shirt,” he said.

Allcock is the vice president of cultivation for First State Compassion Center. He and Mark Lally, center president, held a media briefing in the waiting room of the center’s Wilmington location June 15.

Four years in the making, the dispensary is scheduled to be open at 10:30 a.m., Friday, June 26.

Medical marijuana was legalized in Delaware with the passage of Senate Bill 17 in 2011, during the 146th General Assembly, and went into effect July 1, 2012.

The measure permits people with certain conditions - cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, decompensated cirrhosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, agitation of Alzheimer's disease, PTSD, intractable nausea, severe seizures, severe and persistent muscle spasms, wasting syndrome, and severe debilitating pain - to obtain a medical marijuana card.

The program is run by the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services.

Allcock said when the facility opens there will be 30 employees on staff, and projected close to 50 by the end of the first year.

Allcock said he has been in the medical marijuana industry since 2006. He got his start in Rhode Island as the head grower with the Thomas C. Slater Compassion Center.

Lally, a Lewes resident, is a former Delaware State Police officer and was head of then-Gov. Tom Carper’s security detail.

Patient experience

Located at 37 Germay Drive, the nondescript, 47,000-square-foot building doesn’t have a sign, and the building blends in with the rest of the surrounding manufacturing facilities.

Lally said at some point in the future a banner may be hung from the outside, but for the most part patients know where the dispensary is.

Signs or not, a patient will know they’ve got the right location as soon as they enter the front door. The smell of marijuana doesn’t hit a person in the face when entering, but the aroma is definitely there - like a freshly made pot of coffee.

Immediately inside the front door, a patient is greeted with lockers to the left and a bulletproof glass window that separates the patient from the person who controls the entrance into the dispensary waiting room.

Lally said the lockers are provided because patients are prohibited from bringing bags and cellphones into the waiting area. He said to get past the electronically controlled metal door, a patient will have to present two forms of identification - the medical marijuana card and state-issued driver’s license or identification card.

The first time a patient goes to the dispensary, he or she will meet with a patient orientation specialist. Allcock said the patient signs a good conduct form saying they’ll abide by the rules of dispensary. He said there’s no smoking of the product on site, and the medicine can’t be given to others.

After signing the form, patients get a number and sit in a sparsely decorated waiting room for it to be called. Allcock said patients will go to the counter when their number is called, and then they’ll figure out what type of ingestion method best suits their needs.

Besides smokable marijuana, said Allcock, the dispensary will provide products like marijuana oil tinctures and lozenges. He said all the products are produced onsite and are lab-tested before a patient receives them.

Allcock said the goal is to make the prices of the product affordable for the patients. He estimated nearly 45 percent of the card holders are on disability or low income.

It doesn’t do anyone any good if the person can’t afford the medicine, he said.

Secure facility

The one major difference between the building where the dispensary is housed and its neighbors is the brand new-chain-link fence surrounding the perimeter. The majority of the buildings don’t have a fence, and the ones that do only block off a limited area.

On the fence to the right of the entrance of the property there’s a sign that reads “All activities monitored by video camera.” There are at least five cameras visible from the parking lot.

Lally said the facility’s security is of the utmost importance. He said there are more than 100 cameras on the property. He said the only place a person isn’t videotaped is when they’re in the bathroom. Members of the media ran across four security personnel during the briefing.

Allcock said the dispensary is mandated by law to provide a safe facility. “We’re here to protect the patient,” he said.

Product supply

With only one week to go before the official opening, Allcock said the one area of concern is the amount of marijuana the company is allowed to keep in stock.

The number of patients already approved and working their way through the process compared to the amount of allowable stock shows that a run on the dispensary could cause a shortage.

By law, the dispensary is allowed to stock 1,500 ounces and have 150 plants growing. There are 330 residents in Delaware with cards and another 80 to 90 working through the process. Each patient is allowed up to six ounces a month.

“We’re aware of this problem,” said Allcock, adding that the vast majority of patients won’t need anywhere near six ounces in one month.

Allcock said he was confident the dispensary could take on the current number of patients, but down the road, he said, there “may be a little bit of a problem.”

Lally said the dispensary has already been talking with DHSS and the two entities will be monitoring it closely. He said the dispensary would not have to go through the General Assembly to have the allowable amount of stocked marijuana raised.