Laura (left) and Rebecca Brown are comarket presidents in Maryland for Green Thumb Industries (GTI), a national cannabis cultivator, processor and dispensary operator. The sisters help run three medical cannabis dispensaries in Maryland, including RISE Bethesda and RISE Silver Spring.
above party. “I don’t want to sound like the next Billy Graham, except I’m preaching the gospel of weed,” she quips. “I think it’s just important that people know the truth.” She thinks it’s absurd that the federal government allows pharmaceutical companies and doctors to “hand out opioids like they are Tic Tacs” while stymieing research into medical cannabis. She thinks it’s absurd that grandparents who use medical cannabis for arthritis pain can’t cross state lines with it to visit grandkids, and that children whose seizures are kept at bay by medical cannabis can’t get on a plane with it to visit Disney.
INSIDE THE SECURE FRONT vestibule of Potomac Holistics one recent afternoon, a cheerful gatekeeper greeted each dispensary customer. She signed them in, asked for a photo ID and examined their state-issued 138
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018 | BETHESDAMAGAZINE.COM
patient identification number. Then the gatekeeper logged into a state database to verify that the customer hadn’t already purchased their monthly allotment of cannabis, which is typically 120 grams of flower or 36 grams of THC. The cap is designed, in part, to prevent people from buying larger amounts of cannabis to resell illegally. First-time customers fill out a form attesting that they won’t resell or cross state lines with cannabis products they buy here. If a customer’s paperwork is in order, the gatekeeper ushers them into a quiet waiting area that has a Zen vibe: a trickling Buddha fountain, stacks of pot-themed magazines and televised instructions on cooking with cannabis. When a sales associate is available, the customer is ushered into the dispensary, where the walls are lined with locked glass cases filled with hundreds of products. Flower from marijuana strains with names like Captains Cake, Chem Dog, G Spot and Blue Cheese typically range from $17 to $55 for one-eighth of an ounce. There are also creams to be rubbed onto aching joints, and a tincture named Dreamy that’s reputed to help people sleep. Maryland only allows medical cannabis dispensaries to sell products that are grown and processed in the state by approved and regulated facilities. Most dispensaries stock a wide array of cannabis products: tablets, tinctures, patches, oil-filled vape pens, lotions and multiple strains of flower to smoke. Some products are potent; they contain high concentrations of THC. Others contain little or no THC and are primarily composed of the nonpsychoactive CBD oil. William Askinazi, 60, owns the dispensary with two partners, he says. He saw the potential of medicinal cannabis years ago, when a prescription drug based on a synthetic component of marijuana resolved his son’s serious gastrointestinal problems. Askinazi, a corporate lawyer, former assistant secretary for Maryland’s Department of Commerce and local Republican activist, mortgaged his home and devoted years to opening the