Who Received a Medical Marijuana Production License in Georgia?

After more than two years of waiting, Georgians with a card to obtain medical cannabis oil will finally have a lawful mechanism to obtain it thanks to an announcement for licenses by the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission (GAMCC) on Saturday.

Six companies were awarded one of two different licenses types to grow marijuana for the purposes of manufacturing low-THC CBD oil in Georgia.

The application and awards process was done mostly behind closed doors in Executive Session with the Commission members, which include four doctors, a massage salon owner, a pharmacist, and one police chief. Under Georgia law, executive session for governmental entities may only be used for litigation settlements, real estate matters, employment matters related to personnel, and investment matters by a board of trustees. The Georgia legislature, however, when passing the provisions in 2019, required that all documents be confidential and not subject to public review.

The GAMCC redacted all of the ownership details on applications for licenses, so it is not clear to the public as to who all is backing the venture, which carries a hefty price tag for launch.

A Class 1 License has an initial fee of $200,000 and is renewed annually at $100,000.It also required a $25,000 non-refundable application fee. Class 2 licenses are $100,000 to initiate and $50,000 to renew with a $5,000 non-refundable application fee.

Other recipients of licenses include: clicking on the name will direct you to their application filed with the state in January.

Class 1 Licenses — “authorized to grow cannabis only in indoor facilities for use in producing low THC oil, limited to 100,000 sq ft cultivation space, and to manufacture low THC oil.”

• Botanical Sciences LLC – based in Tattnall County and was created in January 2020. The registered agent is listed as a ‘one-stop-shop’ company that files registrations for business entities. Botanical Services, LLC is hosted on the state’s Georgia Grown website, but does not have a website of its own. The website shows a business address on Cecil Anderson Road in Glennville. According to the application filed with the state, the CEO and point of contact is Robin Fowler, who has an Atlanta address, but the property is in rural Tattnall County.
• Trulieve GA Inc – national company based out of Florida with locations in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, too.

Class 2 Licenses — “authorized to grow cannabis only in indoor facilities for use in producing low THC oil, limited to 50,000 sq ft cultivation space, and to manufacture low THC oil.”

• FFD GA Holdings LLC – Lists ownership/backing by Jeremy Fort of Smyrna, Leo J. Smith of Smyrna, Darin Wayne Mitchell, Jr. of Kennesaw, Tammy Marie Allen of Atlanta, Eric Michael Zachs of Hartford Connecticut, and Benjamin Zachs of New York
• TheraTrue Georgia LLC – Virginia-based company which indicates it is a black-owned business by multimillionaire Paul Judge. This application is 1,750 pages.
• Natures GA LLC – Point of contact is listed as Jigarkumar J. Patel (a pharmacist) in Macon, Ga with 5% or more ownership held by Monal R. Patel of Macon and Jigarkumar J. Patel. The pair shows they own shares of other cannabis facilities in Arizona, Michigan, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut.
  
  The application indicates the company plans to buy a facility in Dublin, Georgia.
• Treevana Remedy Inc – This application exceeds 2,000 pages with dozens redacted entirely. The three-pages on the table of contents (viewable here) indicate a few of the ownership ties.

In Georgia, only a short list of conditions qualify a patient for a Low THC Oil registry card. Those conditions include:

• Cancer, when such diagnosis is end stage or the treatment produces related wasting illness or recalcitrant nausea and vomiting 
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, when such diagnosis is severe or end-stage 
• Seizure disorders related to the diagnosis of epilepsy or trauma related head injuries 
• Multiple sclerosis, when such diagnosis is severe or end-stage 
• Crohn’s disease 
• Mitochondrial disease 
• Parkinson’s disease, when such diagnosis is severe or end-stage 
• Sickle cell disease, when such diagnosis is severe or end-stage 
• Tourette’s syndrome, when such syndrome is diagnosed as severe 
• Autism spectrum disorder, when (a) patient is 18 years of age or more, or (b) patient is less than 18 years of age and diagnosed with severe autism 
• Epidermolysis bullosa 
• Alzheimer’s disease, when such disease is severe or end-stage 
• AIDS when such syndrome is severe or end-stage 
• Peripheral neuropathy, when symptoms are severe or end-stage 
• Patient is in hospice program, either as inpatient or outpatient 
• Intractable pain
• Post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from direct exposure to or witnessing of a trauma for a patient who is at least 18 years of age

You can view the score sheets for each class and other documents on the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission website.