Jacob Ogles
Florida’s largest medical marijuana company sought to reassure patients that the business’ supply is unharmed following Hurricane Ian..
Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers reported no growing facilities went down for the medical cannabis company during the storm. A number of storefront dispensaries remain impacted by the storm.
“Good morning! 88 Trulieve Florida stores will open this morning regular business hours,” she tweeted early Friday. “The remaining will open as we get power and/or cell service and it is safe in the area to do so. Zero impact to grows or processing. We have an amazing team!”
She closed her tweet with the hashtag #ByeIan, reflecting the sentiment of many a Floridian as the massive storm moves out to sea.
As of a 5 a.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center, there are no longer any tropical storm warnings in the state, though Florida’s Atlantic Coast north of the Flagler-Volusia county line remains under storm surge warning.
There are 124 Trulieve dispensaries in the state, of which 59 have operating hours impacted in some way — either closed or limiting hours — according to the company website. But 21 that were closed are now fully open as of 7:45 a.m. Friday morning.
The company has postponed a launch event for its new Khalifa Kush Florida product until Oct. 8.
Florida’s vertical integration regulations require medical cannabis companies be responsible for both cultivating and distributing products. But Rivers’ social media post indicates it’s only the storefront side of business that has been disrupted by the hurricane.
The storm made landfall in Lee County near Cayo Costa at 3:05 p.m. on Wednesday, crossed the state and went back out to the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday.
That leaves a large swath of the state that felt some impact from the storm.
The majority of Trulieve dispensaries are concentrated in Southwest Florida, Central Florida and the Space Coast. In hard-hit areas like Lee and Charlotte counties, no reopening details have been announced for any locations.
But through most of the state business is unaffected, and as power and utilities are restored, the company is rapidly announcing reopenings.
One comment
Susanne Vadas
October 9, 2022 at 8:52 am
What has trulieve done to help the community and patients????? Shut the doors to customers in north fort Myers after some folks had no electric or internet for 9 days? Instead of at least keeping doors open until at least 5;00 on Saturday,they turned folks away at 3:30, leaving myself and others in tears,due to the pain and stress of the whole situation. Everyone at that store on Saturday, 3 employees hanging in lobby, one leisurely on her way out, are lazy irresponsible, uncompassionate. It’s a MEDICAL Clinic. People needed meds and your company is totally unorganized and disrespectful!!! Hope we go legal real soon . See how long you’ll last .
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