More delays for Sussex marijuana dispensary

First, it was January. Then, March. Now, it looks like Sussex County’s medical marijuana patients will have to wait until sometime in April before First State Compassion Center opens their location near Lewes.

Mark Lally, First State Compassion Center president, provided the news during a recent media tour of the still-under-construction location in The Vineyards, off Route 9, near Lewes.

Pamela Johnston, First State spokeswoman, said March 22 there have been supply, contractor and weather delays beyond First State’s control.

First State Compassion Center opened Delaware’s first, and to date only, distribution site for medical marijuana in Wilmington almost two years ago, in June 2015. In fall 2016, the Division of Public Health announced the winning bids for compassion centers in Kent and Sussex counties; First State won the contract in Sussex and New York-based Columbia Care won the contract in Kent.

At the time of the announcements, Columbia Care, which has to build out a growing and distribution operation, announced an opening in the second half of 2017. First State, which already has a growing operation up and running in Wilmington, announced a January 2017 opening with medicine shipped to the new retail location.

In January, Lally said landlord delays prevented timely access to the property.

Deb McPherson, founder of the Delaware Patient Network, an advocacy group for medical marijuana cardholders, said she’s not surprised by the delays.

“Nothing they have done has ever been organized or on time,” she wrote in a March 24 email.

McPherson said First State is only concerned with having its facility completed prior to the opening of Columbia Care’s Kent County location.

“I can guarantee you that First State will have their kitchen operational and their Sussex County location fully operational by the time Columbia Care comes on board,” she said. “That is their only concern. Right now they have patients stuck right where they want them.”

The state isn’t taking any responsibility for the delay and isn’t providing much in the way of additional support for patients.

Johnston said First State’s growing operation in Wilmington has been preparing for the opening – meaning, she said, the shelves will be stocked soon after construction is completed and all required permits are obtained.

“We get upset about waiting. Nobody likes to wait, but there are delays in all construction,” she said.

Andrea Wojcik, Department of Public Health spokeswoman, said in a March 23 email the department is eager to see the Sussex County compassion center open as quickly as possible, while ensuring all legal requirements and procedural safeguards are met.

“DPH is looking forward to their opening to provide patients in Kent and Sussex County with a location that may be more convenient for them,” she wrote.

In an effort to speed up the medication pickup process for Sussex County patients, Johnston said, First State has recently set up a system that will allow patients to have a specific strain and amount put aside in advance of them making the drive to Wilmington. When a patient calls, she explained, they will be put in the queue at the time they call and have to wait until it’s their turn, at which time a First State representative will call them on the phone and take the patient’s order. Then, she continued, once the patient arrives at the center in Wilmington, they’ll have to wait in the queue until it’s their turn.

This is a Band-Aid measure, she said, but it’s been first-come, first-served, and this should help patients in Sussex get the specific strain of medicine they need.

The phone number for First State Compassion Center is 302-543-2100.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the correct procedural process associated for Sussex County patients ordering medicine in advance.