Edward Weidenfeld got interested in medical cannabis as a patient before he got into the business, and now part of his business is coming to Hagerstown, Maryland.
"We're producing a quality product that I personally take," he said.
Weidenfeld and his business partner, Andras Kirschner, have an established Washington, D.C., cultivation facility, Phyto Management LLC, which produces and sells its products under the District Cannabis brand.
"We plan to bring that same quality and commitment to purity to the Hagerstown facility and the dispensaries in Maryland. ... We're planning on marketing under the District Cannabis brand," Weidenfeld said in a telephone interview last week.
Weidenfeld and Kirschner also are the founders of Maryland Cultivation and Processing, which acquired property at 560 Western Maryland Parkway. There is a 35,900-square-foot warehouse on the property. Earlier this month, MCP received unanimous approval from the city’s planning commission for a preliminary site plan to add a 46,500-square-foot greenhouse and a 13,000-square-foot pond to harvest rainwater and reuse runoff from the facility’s roof.
"We hope to have plants in the ground by late spring and to harvest about 3 1/2 months thereafter," Weidenfeld said in the telephone interview.
Kirschner, who holds a degree in sustainable agriculture, represented the company before the planning commission. Weidenfeld is an estate and asset-protection lawyer who served as general counsel to Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign.
A source of relief
Weidenfeld, now in his 70s, turned to medical cannabis for his health.
"I have a condition called Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's affects the neurotransmitters of the brain," he said.
There's no known cure for Parkinson's disease. Its symptoms can range from tremors and rigid muscles to problems with balance or speech. The symptoms get worse over time as the disease progresses.
"Once I was diagnosed with Parkinson's, I pursued every avenue of hope that it might somehow be curable, or at least its rate of progression could be slowed down," he said.
He read that medical cannabis offered some promise of dealing with symptoms like his. In addition to more traditional medications, he said he's been using medical cannabis for about seven years.
"The effort is to treat symptom by symptom, and cannabis affects a number of symptoms," he said.
While stressing that people should consult their doctors about their conditions, Weidenfeld said cannabis has helped him with what he called "constant muscle cramping" and inflammation.
"I use cannabis both as an external salve and occasionally, in the evening, for anti-inflammatory relief," he said.
But the "single greatest benefit," he said, is relief from "ever-present anxiety."
"When one has a degenerative disease, it is very hard to focus in the moment because you're always, in the back of your mind, thinking, 'What next?' There is something unique about cannabis that puts you in the moment and lets you stay in the moment," he said.
Weidenfeld consistently referred to the substance as "cannabis."
He also drew a distinction between THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the substance that gives people a high, and CBD (cannabidiol), which can be beneficial without being mind-altering. THC and CBD products will be produced in Hagerstown, he said.
A welcoming community
He credited his business partner, Kirschner, with finding the site on Western Maryland Parkway.
"Andras turned over every stone possible," he said. "We also had a broker engaged to search for property."
They were looking for a facility that was suitable and a community that was welcoming.
"There are lots of places people can and did go in Maryland, but our philosophy is it's not enough to be legally welcome. We want people who see a future in the industry and an opportunity to make a role for themselves in a newly developing business," he said.
He said he and Kirschner found that in Hagerstown.
The company issued a news release to announce its acquisition of the Western Maryland Parkway property. The release quotes Jill Thompson, director of community and economic development for the city.
"We welcome this new investment to the city of Hagerstown and the new jobs the company will bring to our community," Thompson said in the release. "The company has a demonstrated reputation in its industry and will be a perfect addition to our business community."
https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/news/local/medical-cannabis-owner-we-re-producing-a-quality-product-that/article_02f82e34-f4da-5ff2-88f9-a568b16efd00.html
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