A Dauphin County company working in the medical marijuana pharmaceutical industry is proposing one of the first processing facilities in the south central region be placed in Business Campus One in Penn Twp., Perry County.
PA Options for Wellness has approached the business park operators and township officials about the facility that would employ more than 60 people, Supervisor Brian Peters said at the Dec. 28 meeting. Peters also serves on the business park board.
The manufacturing facility would process the cannabis oils for use in medicines under the state’s new medical marijuana laws.
"I think it’s a good thing. I’ve been listening to the health benefits. One that strikes me is that it helps out with seizures for little children," said Perry County Commissioner Paul Rudy, a proponent of economic development in the business park. "It will sustain us well, generating jobs. I’ve heard that the salaries will range between $30,000 and $100,000 and that’s significant."
Thomas Trite, the company’s president and CEO, said economics helped him decide on Perry County.
"I know the workforce up there," he said in a phone call last week. "They have a great work ethic. And the area up there needs some industry."
The facility would start with 25 employees and add more as its business grows, he said.
The company would locate the facility — potentially employing up to 80 people in coming years — in the mixed-use business park on Route 274 that also houses Rite Aid, Holy Spirit, and Mutzabaugh’s Market.
The prospect of a pharmaceutical facility there is huge economic development news for the township, Peters said. If it goes forward, the facility would be a top-five employer along with Mutzabaugh’s, Rohrer Bus and Susquenita School District.
The economic activity could be good for the township beyond employment.
"For our township, that’s revenue," Peters said.
The township struggled to keep tax increases smaller in its 2017 budget, suspending its police department beginning Jan. 1 in a cost-cutting move. The township will be covered by state police. Residents have lodged concerns that economic activity is stagnant and few people are moving to the township.
Commercial stagnation puts more tax burden on an aging population, making it more difficult to pay for even basic township operations.
The company
PA Options for Wellness was started in 2015 by Trite, a pharmacist and businessman with more than 40 years of education and business experience in pharmacy services.
Trite lives in Harrisburg and has worked for some large pharmacy companies, according to his Linkedin and other social media accounts.
From 1996 to 2013, Trite was the CEO and President of Continuing Care RX (CCRX), a Harrisburg pharmacy provider for long-term care facilities.
That pharmacy started in Newport serving one nursing home with 179 patients and grew to serve 300 facilities with 3,200 patients, Trite said.
When the larger Omnicare acquired it in 2010, CCRX had revenue of $170 million under Trite’s leadership, according to an Omnicare press release. Over the next three years, Trite remained with the company as Omnicare’s vice president of national operations. Omnicare was sold to CVS in 2015 for $12.7 billion.
Trite will draw on his experience for the new venture, which he said isn’t much different from other pharmacy operations.
"We have a team that’s familiar with it all from the human resources to the medical and the security," Trite said.
Clarity
"There’s a lot of misunderstanding about what they’re doing with the medical cannabis," Peters said.
That’s why PA Options for Wellness has requested to hold a public meeting to outline its proposal for the facility with the local community. That meeting will be 7 p.m. in the township building on Monday, Jan. 23.
Trite said he and his executive team members will be there to discuss the proposal and offer clarity.
A common misconception, Peters said, is that fields of marijuana will sprout up in Perry County. Not so. The state law requires grow operations to be done indoors with strict security measures.
Trite said his security team has years of experience in law enforcement and state government security.
"We intend to build on the best practices and improve them," he said. "That’s how we did long-term care pharmacy."
Last year, Pennsylvania became one of 28 states and the District of Columbia to pass a medical marijuana law. The law permits companies to grow, process and distribute medical cannabis in pharmaceutical forms, such as pills and oils, according to the state Department of Health.
The plant can’t be used in its raw form by ingestion or smoking under the law. It’s only available to patients with chronic and serious conditions, such as epilepsy, cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder, and HIV-AIDS.
"Most opposition is from people who have a misunderstanding and a stigma toward what medical cannabis is," Trite said.
He’s spoken with patients in other states where medical marijuana has been legal for years, including children with epilepsy and veterans suffering from PTSD. He’s seen the benefits and said he knows the legislature did the right thing.
"It’s a mission of serving these people and making sure they get the care they deserve," he said.
The state only last month released draft regulations for growers, processors, dispensaries and doctors. Companies can begin applying for licenses this year but permits may take time and facilities are unlikely to begin operating until 2018.
In addition, the construction of such a facility at the business park would require planning commission review and approval from the supervisors. Those plans and permits can take up to a year, or longer. The township has not received any official plans yet from the company, and likely wouldn’t until the company has a license from the state.
Applications for licenses will not be available until at least Jan. 17, according to the Department of Health.
Trite said his company is prepared to file its paperwork as soon as it can. He’s been preparing this business plan for nearly four years and the specifics relating to Pennsylvania for at least the last year. Between licensing, inspections, facility construction and hiring, the plan is to finish and be open in early 2018.
"We’d like to be open as soon as possible," Trite said.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker
Full Article: Medical Marijuana Facility Eyes Local Site
Author: Jim T. Ryan
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Website: PennLive
