Fresh Delaware’s Seaford dispensary opens Feb. 14
After it took three years for the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in Sussex County to increase from two to three, it’s only going to be a little more than three months for a fourth option. Fresh Delaware is set to open Tuesday, Feb. 14, in Seaford.
Availability of medical marijuana to the county’s patients has been slow, but steady – First State Compassion opened its Lewes location in May 2017; Columbia Care opened its Rehoboth location in October 2019; and Best Buds opened its Georgetown location in October 2022.
This is the second dispensary for Fresh Delaware, which is a subsidiary of Compassionate Care Research Institute, and the first in the county west of Route 113. The first Fresh Delaware location opened in Newark nearly four years ago, in March 2019.
During an interview Feb. 13, Greg Huggler, general manager of the new Fresh Delaware, said it’s been a lot of hard work to get to this point, but there’s been a positive response from people who know it’s opening. There are patients who are driving all the way to Newark for Fresh Delaware’s flower and, in general, western Sussex County is underserved, he said.
When Fresh Delaware’s latest store opens, the state will have a total of 11 dispensaries. A 12th, Valor Cannabis, is expected to open in Wilmington sometime in 2023.
Huggler said the space is 4,000 square feet, which provides plenty of room for patients to check in, make an order and receive their medicine. The goal is get patients in and out as quickly as possible, he said.
To begin, the dispensary will be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Huggler said once he’s been able to train a second supervisor, the store will be open seven days a week. He expects that to happen in the middle of March.
For more information on the Seaford location of Fresh Delaware, 22982 Sussex Hwy., call 302-404-0552, email seaford@freshdelaware.com or go to freshdelaware.com.
Medical marijuana stats in Delaware
The number of people with medical marijuana cards in Delaware continues to grow.
According to statistics provided by Paul Hyland, Office of Medical Marijuana program manager, as of Feb. 13, there are 16,322 patients in Delaware – 8,117 in New Castle County, 2,946 in Kent County, 5,259 in Sussex County. There are an additional 346 caregivers with cards across the state. When the law creating the medical marijuana program was passed in 2011, analysts expected the patient population to top out at about 5,000 patients across the state.
Those same statistics show there have been roughly $6.2 million in total sales since the beginning of the year.
Qualifying conditions in Delaware
The program is overseen by the state’s Department of Health and Social Services. According to the medical marijuana program tab found on the DHSS website, qualifying conditions for medical marijuana cards in Delaware include cancer; terminal illness; positive status for HIV; AIDS; decompensated cirrhosis; ALS; agitation of Alzheimer’s Disease; PTSD; autism with aggressive behavior; glaucoma; chronic debilitating migraine; anxiety – CBD-rich card only; and a chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition or its treatment that produces cachexia, severe debilitating pain, intractable nausea, seizures, and severe and persistent muscle spasm.
For more information on obtaining a medical marijuana card from the state’s Office of Medical Marijuana, go to the DHSS website at dhss.delaware.gov, and find the Division of Public Health tab. The phone number 302-744-4749 can also be called for more information.
