Utah cannabis firm to open pharmacy in South Ogden, growing in Box Elder County
COO of True North Bill Stevens walks through his cannabis grow operation on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The facility plans to harvest next month and the medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
True North cultivator Tony Hernandez tends to cannabis plants at the growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
COO of True North Bill Stevens walks through his cannabis grow operation on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The facility plans to harvest next month and the medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
True North cultivators Tony Hernandez, right, and Kendle Gibson put netting around cannabis plants at the grow facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. As buds develop on the plants the nets will help support their weight. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
COO of True North Bill Stevens opens the door to a cannabis grow room on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, at the grow facility in Northern Utah. They plan to harvest next month and the medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
COO of True North Bill Stevens walks through his cannabis grow operation on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The facility plans to harvest next month and the medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
True North cultivator Tony Hernandez tends to cannabis plants at the growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
True North cultivators Tony Hernandez, right, and Kendle Gibson adjust a light over cannabis plants at the grow facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
True North cultivator Tony Hernandez tends to cannabis plants at the growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
True North cultivator Tony Hernandez tends to cannabis plants at the growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
True North cultivator Tony Hernandez tends to cannabis plants at the growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
True North cultivator Tony Hernandez tends to cannabis plants at the growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
Cannabis plants grow at True North growing facility on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, in Northern Utah. The medicinal plants will supply several pharmacies in the state.
The site of Weber County’s planned cannabis pharmacy, operated by a company named True North of Utah, has been pinpointed — a vacant bank building near Newgate Mall in South Ogden.
It should start operating in March or April, according to Mike Standlee, the True North founder and chief executive officer. Meantime, True North efforts move forward to open a second pharmacy in North Logan, probably by July. A temporary True North marijuana-growing facility, to supply the South Ogden and North Logan pharmacies, is already operational in Box Elder County.
“We imagine we will be serving patients from all of northern Utah,” Standlee said in a written response to a series of queries by the Standard-Examiner. If and when statewide home delivery of cannabis pharmaceuticals opens up in Utah, he went on, “we will be able to service the entire state.”
True North isn’t the only cannabis operation allowed in Utah or even Weber County. Following legalization of medical marijuana in Utah in 2018, state officials have granted eight companies permission to grow marijuana to supply the industry, including True North, and issued 14 pharmacy licenses for the sale of products to patients, two to True North and 12 to nine other firms. Harvest of Utah, a subsidiary of Tempe, Arizona-based Harvest Health and Recreation, has a license to build a grow facility in Weber County.
But as the industry gets off the ground in Utah, as patients start investigating their options, Standlee offers insight into what to expect here. Not surprisingly, he’s bullish on his firm’s prospects.
“As we are one of only a few companies that have both agricultural and dispensary licenses, the real winner here will be our patients. We can keep costs low and the quality of our product high as we oversee every step from seeding to the sealing of the final product,” Standlee said. Standlee founded Kimberly, Idaho-based Standlee Premium Western Forage, which produces forage for horses, but stepped away from the firm to focus on the cannabis industry. He also helped found Sky Dispensaries, a medical cannabis provider in Arizona.
“I’ve been watching and preparing for the potential of a Utah market for years,” he said.
Standlee touts the range of ailments cannabis products can address. True North will produce cannabis vapes, extract oils and drops, gel cubes, lotions, balms and more to sell at its Perfect Earth Modern Apothecary-branded pharmacies.
“The most common use for medicinal marijuana is pain management,” Standlee said. He said it can help with nerve pain associated with multiple sclerosis, tremors associated with epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease and with some of the conditions associated with fibromyalgia, endometriosis and interstitial cystitis. Cannabis products, he went on, are a more natural alternative “to big pharmaceutical products.”
Plans are afoot to create “partnerships” with nonprofit agencies “as we raise money and awareness for those in our patient community,” Standlee told Cannabis Dispensary, an industry publication. He also warned against heavy-handed regulation, saying if there are too many “barriers to entry, Utah will remain one of the top states of opioid abuse in the country.”
To get cannabis products, patients will need a cannabis card, available on the recommendation of a physician. Then they consult with a pharmacist at a dispensary to get medication, according to Standlee. Utah products must be made from marijuana from a Utah-licensed grower.
True North’s growing operation, for now, is at a temporary indoor facility in Box Elder County. Plans are afoot for a “state-of-the-art grow and processing site” there, Stanlee told the Standard-Examiner. Initial plans call for a 66,000-square-foot facility capable of growing 15,000-plus pounds of product a year, with room in the future for a 44,000-square-foot expansion.
LOCATED AT 3775 WALL AVE.
The South Ogden pharmacy will be located at a former Key Bank location at 3775 Wall Ave. Standlee said remodeling crews have already started renovating the location. Previously, True North had been eyeing an Ogden site.
True North’s plans came up for debate on Jan. 21 by the South Ogden City Council, when the body considered an ordinance spelling out where medicinal marijuana facilities may locate in the city. They approved the ordinance 3-1, which will allow True North to locate at the Wall Avenue location, and Mayor Russell Porter voiced support for such operations.
“I would just say, I don’t know how this is any different from another pharmacy. It’s medicinal, it’s approved by the state of Utah. They’re not selling anything illegal. We got opioid addiction problems — those are being sold out of regular pharmacies,” Porter said. “If it’s a pharmacy, it’s a pharmacy. We should treat it like all pharmacies in the city.”
Though cities have some leeway spelling out where cannabis grow operations and pharmacies may locate, Utah’s new cannabis law authorizes their presence. State law, though, says they may not sit within 1,000 feet of a “community location” like a school, library, park or church, and can’t be within 600 feet of a residential zone.
Among other locations around the state, another pharmacy is planned for West Bountiful in Davis County, according to Matt Dixon, the South Ogden city manager.