A Chattooga County company that had plans to build a manufacturing facility in Trion did not make the final cut when a new commission tasked with regulating medical marijuana in Georgia selected six companies to enter the field.
Over the weekend at a hearing in Walker County, the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission selected six companies from 69 that had applied for licenses to sell medical marijuana.
The six companies chosen will be able to sell medical marijuana oil that contains no more than 5% of the THC compound found in marijuana and which makes users high.
Each of those six companies will be able to open five dispensaries. The state's limit of six companies was part of a compromise in the legislature designed to provide access to patients who legitimately needed the drug to treat health conditions but at the same time not allowing marijuana to be illegally distributed.
Remedium Life Science, a company based in Trion, was one of the 69 applicants but was not chosen. An official with Remedium declined to comment.
Sanford Posner, a lawyer and a founding member of the Georgia Cannabis Trade Association, said that the commission's criteria and selection process is not known to the public.
"My impression is that if you're going to do something new and you're stepping into this, I think they had to have given weight to the fact that the multi-state operators have a proven track record," Posner said. "I think those applications were favored. If you're in the commission, you want to deliver this to the people of the state. That's their job. In this situation, if you're going to fail, you want to fail with the proven entity as opposed to a local person."
Posner said he has heard the legislature and other parties involved have pushed for two to four additional licenses to be added a year from now. He also said he has heard rumblings about some companies considering a lawsuit in how the six companies were selected but hopes any potential lawsuit doesn't hold up the progress that's ongoing.
"The book is not closed on this," Posner said. "My gut instinct is obviously the people who didn't get selected, they're probably going to decide whether or not they want to file a lawsuit, that there's some kind of unfairness. But at face value, I don't see those going anywhere, and I hope that it doesn't create an injunction where the court prevents the people who are issued the licenses from moving forward, from providing the THC oil to patients that need it."
The licenses awarded are split into two categories: Class 1 and Class 2. Two Class 1 licenses, which allow 100,000 square feet of cultivation space, were awarded to Botanical Sciences LLC and Trulieve GA Inc.
Four Class 2 licenses, which allow 50,000 square feet of cultivation space, were awarded to FFD GA Holdings LLC, Theratrue Georgia LLC, Natures GA LLC and Treevana Remedy Inc.
Each company was required to register as a business in Georgia, but some of the companies also operate in other states where medical marijuana is already legal.
In an op-ed written in March, Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, called the opportunity to become one of the six companies "an answer to many prayers."
The town of Trion, Chattooga County and Mullis' Northwest Georgia Joint Development Authority all partnered with Remedium Life Science in the application process.
Mullis wrote about the prospect of Remedium being chosen as one of the six companies and was optimistic because Chattooga County was one of only three Tier 1 counties north of I-20, and before the COVID-19 pandemic, the county reported the highest unemployment rate in the state at 12.2%.
"The significance of an economic development project of this size in a rural community cannot be overstated, but during this unprecedented time it takes on a whole new meaning and purpose," Mullis wrote. "The opportunity before us is truly a once-in-a-lifetime project and could be the catalyst we need to attract other industry sectors to the region."
Remedium's plan included building a manufacturing facility in the Trion Industrial Park, expected to create over 50 jobs.
Remedium also agreed to a profit-share arrangement with the town of Trion and Chattooga County, which could have potentially generated up to $1 million every year to support education and public health programs throughout the community, according to Mullis' letter.
After the contracts are signed, the six companies will have one year to begin operations. Prospective patients who suffer from certain conditions outlined in Georgia law would need to get approval from a doctor and apply through the Georgia Department of Public Health. The conditions include terminal cancers, Parkinson's disease and seizures.
Contact Patrick Filbin at pfilbin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476. Follow him on Twitter @PatrickFilbin.