SALT LAKE CITY – Utah’s next medical cannabis pharmacy is opening doors to patients this weekend in Salt Lake City; unfortunately, this means the wait continues for the state’s southern residents.
Beehive Farmacy, located at 1991 South 3600 West in Salt Lake City is opening doors Saturday, October 24. This was announced by Chief Operator at the pharmacy, Bijan Sakaki, during an interview with Salt Baked City.
Salt-Baked Staff – Matt Crawley
Beehive Farmacy is opening doors to patients Saturday, October 24.
“We’re trying to create a unique experience where we’re blending a traditional retail experience with a medical emphasis on how we do things,” said Sakaki. “We did a real good job of creating an environment where people can walk the retail space and explore different products from different vendors, and also check out the cool high-res macro shots we have against the wall.”
To schedule a ‘first-time consultation’ with a pharmacist and view hours of operation, visit the pharmacy website for more information.
Although 53-percent of Utah’s voting population approved Proposition 2 in 2016, and medical cannabis pharmacies opened in March, nearly half of the state’s residents are still wondering when they’ll have access to legal cannabis – especially those in Southern Utah.
To date, only six of the 14 medical cannabis pharmacies that were awarded licenses by the state have opened their doors to provide cannabis to Utah’s growing patient population. None of these locations fall south of Provo. This leaves the residents of Cedar City and St. George with empty medicine jars, unless they take a trip across the border to a legal state or make a long trip up north.
According to Richard Oborn, Director for the Center of Cannabis at the Utah Department of Health, the state had 12,171 active medical cannabis cardholders as of October 13, and many of those patients are located in Northern Utah counties where cannabis is already available.
Licensed pharmacies have until the end of 2020 to open their doors or begin construction. Despite this, the remaining pharmacies that are licensed to open in Park City, Springville, Payson, Cedar City, and St. George show little to no signs of opening anytime soon.
Image Provided By The Utah Department of Health
“We know that many factors impact the timing of when a medical cannabis pharmacy will open,” Oborn said. “One of those factors is the thin supply of products available to purchase from Utah-licensed cultivators and processors during the first seven months of the program.”
Oborn expects that, as Utah’s eight state-licensed cultivators expand their operations and produce a higher volume of product in months to come, this will become less of a factor, and the remaining pharmacies will open their doors to patients.
Other factors contributing to late openings are construction and remodeling delays, proposed locations falling through, and challenges in obtaining approvals from local municipalities.
Despite all of these hurdles, there is light at the end of the hazy tunnel for those down south. According to Oborn, Southern Utah’s first medical cannabis pharmacies should open in late 2020 or early 2021.
Sugar House Selects, a craft cannabis flower producer from Zion Cultivars, recently announced that they are releasing their first batch of medical cannabis exclusively at Beehive’s Own, creating a buzz around the opening of the new dispensary.
“On an availability standpoint, we are going to be launching one of the more culture heavy brands called Sugar House Selects through our platform and we’re also going to be releasing Cookies within the state of Utah,” said Sakaki.
Cookies legendary cannabis genetics and brand is recognized throughout cannabis culture and are based out of San Francisco, California. The founders are expert grower Jai, and entrepreneur Berner, whose Girl Scout Cookies (GSC) remains one of the most sought-after cannabis strains.
According to Sakaki, Cheetah Piss and Gary Payton flower will be available in Utah’s newest dispensary soon.
Salt-Baked Staff – Matt Crawley
Bijan Sakaki is the latest pharmacy operator to join Utah’s expanding Green Scene. Sakaki announced during an interview with Salt Baked City, his pharmacy is opening doors to patients Saturday, October 24.
