Cresco Yeltrah will officially be the first cannabis processor to lay down clones in the Keystone State.
The first of what will be a total of twelve cannabis grower/processors in Pennsylvania was deemed fully operational by the Pennsylvania Department of Health according to an article published in the Morning Call.
Eleven other cultivation centers should be approved by the health department soon. Permits were issued in late June and processors were given six months to become operational. Cresco Yeltrah began building immediately after the permits were awarded. They have now undergone several inspections from the health department and registered with the MJ Freeway seed-to-sale tracking system, meaning they can officially accept seeds and clones for production.
Cresco Yeltrah should have a complete line of products available for statewide distribution as early as February. The company is an affiliate of Cresco Labs, the largest medical cannabis producer in Illinois. They have also been awarded one of 27 dispensary permits and plans to open three locations across the state.
The State Health Department received a total of 450 license applications to grow, process, or dispense medical cannabis. Now they are dealing with more than 150 administrative appeals from those who have been denied permits. Some of their applications were deemed incomplete, and when prompted for a response as to why the applicants received no answer from the department. In these cases, there were nonrefundable application fees ranging from $5000 to $10,000 involved.
On top of these complaints, applicants who did receive scorecards have found an issue as well. The scoring was confusing and led many applicants feeling as if hey should have been warned about what type of scoring scale was being used. In some cases, these complainants believe the scale shouldn’t have been used at all. Despite these issues with the Pennsylvania medical cannabis system, news of an operational cultivation is still a positive sign for the future of the program.
