Medical Marijuana Manufacture Comes to Clinton County

SOUTH AVIS – The cavernous east end of the old Avis Home plant is the scene of contractors scurrying about, working seven days a week to prepare the site for north-central Pennsylvania’s first medical marijuana-manufacturing facility.

Chris Woods, founder and owner of Terrapin Care Station, recently took therecord-online for a tour through the building undergoing renovation by local contractors M & R Contracting and Precise Electrical & Facilities Services.

Woods said the structure renovation is ahead of schedule and hiring will begin in November with a workforce of 40 to 60 expected by February. Early hires will undergo training in an existing Terrapin facility in Colorado; he said most hires will be local with an emphasis on veterans. He indicated hiring procedures should be announced in the near future.

The 40,000 square foot site is being partitioned off into specific rooms for the growing and extraction process, including rooms devoted to flowering, trimming, curing and drying and a breeding room. The timeline for production, from seed to shipping, Woods said, will be four months.

As the renovation process continues the licensing agency, the state Department of Health, will make periodic inspections, as was done late last week. Once fully approved Terrapin will sell its product to licensed dispensaries for patients, with a doctor’s prescription, seeking the medicinal benefits of medical marijuana.

Woods said permittees are required to be operational by Jan. 1. Once construction is completed and the final inspection is approved, producers may begin to grow medical cannabis and process the product to sell to licensed dispensaries. He said completion of the build-out is in weeks, but no exact date is available at this time.

Woods and Terrapin Communications Director Peter Marcus provided The Record with some specifics relative to specific products and the process:

All cannabis grown at Terrapin Care Station’s facility will be processed to comply with product requirements set by the Department of Health. The process will include extracting cannabinoids such as THC (the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana) and CBD (a cannabis compound that has significant medical benefits, but does not make people feel the psychoactive effects associated with THC). Cannabis extract is the base used to produce medical marijuana products allowed under the law. These are:

• Pills or capsules are swallowed
• Oils can be vaporized through a device similar to an electronic cigarette, or it can be used in cooking recipes
• Topical gels, creams and ointments can be applied to problem areas of the body for conditions such as chronic pain
• Tinctures (medicine made by dissolving cannabis) can be taken orally, or dropped into food and drinks
• Liquids are more like an infused drink

Woods was the principal speaker at last week’s Clinton County Economic Partnership annual dinner. He said Terrapin wants to be a part of the community and wants to serve patients seeking the medicinal benefits of medical marijuana.

Terrapin Care Station is one of 12 recipients to receive marijuana grower license permits earlier this year. The other area facility was licensed to a Danville firm. There had been 20 grower license applicants in north central Pennsylvania, 179 across the state.