After months of preparation, The Forest is finally on the move. Standard Wellness, a multi-state operator with deep ties to Utah’s medical cannabis program, is relocating its pharmacy from Springville to Murray, bringing much-needed access a little closer to home for Salt Lake Valley patients.
The pharmacy, formerly operated as The Cannabist, was one of only a few options serving Utah County, alongside Curaleaf locations in Provo, Payson, and Lehi. Soon, The Forest will reopen under its new banner in Murray, adding another option for patients who have watched the valley’s limited pharmacy roster slowly grow over the past four years.
Standard Wellness secured approval for the move last August after clearing regulatory hurdles with the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF), which oversees the state’s cannabis program. Company officials successfully argued that Utah law allows licensed pharmacies to relocate, opening the door for construction to begin. Once operational, The Forest will join Beehive Farmacy and Dragonfly Wellness in Salt Lake City, and BLOC Pharmacy in South Jordan, rounding out the short list of dispensaries serving the region.
“We got approval last August from the state to be able to move from Springville to Murray,” said Standard Wellness COO Scott Ericson. “We’re under construction now, and we anticipate being able to move in sometime around the middle of June.” The new location at 6041 State Street will offer more room for flower, edibles, tinctures, topicals, and extracts.
Standard Wellness runs vertically in Utah, managing cultivation and processing out of its Corinne facility. After acquiring The Cannabist last March, the company locked in the licenses needed to cultivate, process, and sell cannabis products directly to patients.
“I’ve been with Standard Wellness for about five years,” Ericson said. “I’ve done operations in Utah, Missouri, and Ohio. We are a multi-state operator, but we’re a small one. We’re active in three states, and we have a Maryland license as well.”
Founded in Ohio in 2017, Standard Wellness has since expanded into Missouri, Utah, and Maryland. It first delivered product to Utah patients during 2020, when the state’s medical cannabis program was still finding its footing.
With the addition of The Forest, Utah now counts 17 licensed medical cannabis pharmacies, up from 15 after the Legislature approved two new rural locations during the 2024 general session. “I think it’s important that we have patient access all over the state,” Ericson said. “There are locations in rural Utah where patients have to drive multiple hours to get to a pharmacy.”
For more on how the latest general session shaped Utah’s medical cannabis program, flip back a few pages for our full recap.
Ericson noted that The Forest aims to give patients variety, not just another outlet for house brands. “Our goal is to have the widest variety of products in the state,” he said. “Typically, about 30 to 35 percent of our inventory is our own product. The rest is everybody else. We don’t want to be the kind of location where you can only buy a Ford truck because it’s a Ford dealership.”
Update: As of June 21, The Forest is just days away from opening its doors in Murray. The team is fully staffed, the shelves are stocked—they’re just waiting for the final thumbs up from the Center for Medical Cannabis before welcoming patients inside.
This article originally appeared in the Spring 2025 issue of Salt Baked City.
