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A New Option

Medicinal marijuana facility set to open in Moorhead, Minn

BY KAYLA PRASEK

As a board-certified physician in emergency medicine, Kyle Kingsley saw a wide variety of trauma come through the doors of his hospital. With that came people in immense levels of pain that the usual pain medications couldn’t subdue. Because of that, Kingsley started learning about medical cannabis and eventually co-authored the “Medical Cannabis Primer for Healthcare Providers.”

“I had patients experience these tremendous levels of pain, which led me to look into medical cannabis,” says Kingsley, CEO of Minnesota Medical Solutions. “I was nervous about the situations in states that had previously approved it, so when Minnesota approved medical cannabis, I knew we had to do it differently.”

Kingsley’s company, also known as MinnMed, received its license from the state of Minnesota Dec. 1 and quickly put its plan to work. The company built its 27,000-squarefoot production facility in Otsego, with the first dispensary in Minneapolis set to open July 1. Three other dispensaries, in Moorhead, Rochester and Eden Prairie, will open during the following two months. An additional 218,000-square-foot year-round greenhouse, manufacturing facility and laboratory will open in March 2016.

State Approval

When the Minnesota Legislature approved the medical cannabis program during the 2014 session, it opened the door for this blossoming industry. According to the Minnesota Department of Health, the program is to “allow seriously ill Minnesotans to use medical cannabis to treat certain conditions.” Patients who wish to use medical cannabis must have one of the qualifying conditions, as certified by their doctor, and must enroll in a patient registry maintained by the state. Only patients on the registry will be able to get medical cannabis directly from a dispensary. Qualifying conditions are cancers associated with severe or chronic pain, nausea or severe vomiting or cachexia or severe wasting; HIV/AIDS; Tourette Syndrome; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis; seizures, including those characteristic of epilepsy; severe and persistent muscle spasms, including those characteristic of multiple sclerosis; Crohn’s Disease; and terminal illness, with a life expectancy of less than one year, if the illness or treatment produces severe or chronic pain, nausea or severe vomiting, cachexia or severe wasting.

The legislation also states there will be two registered manufacturers, who each will set up four dispensaries around the state. In addition to MinnMed’s four locations, LeafLine Labs will have dispensaries in St. Paul, Eagan, St. Cloud and Hibbing.

Finally, the legislation states that medical cannabis will only be available as a liquid, pill or vapor and cannot use the dried leaves or plant form.

“People will be surprised how boring medical cannabis is,” Kingsley says. “It’s good for the state because there are very sick people here, and this is another treatment option for them. There really is no downside to this program.”

Strict Limitations

For Kingsley, the limits of the state’s program were important, because “it’s just another treatment option. Our customers will never see the plant. We will only stock oils and pills, and it will look like medicine, which was important to me,” he says.

Security is also of the utmost importance for MinnMed, so each dispensary will have a very robust security system in place, “while still looking like a comfortable clinic/pharmacy,” Kingsley says. “We are just another health care organization, employing physicians and scientists.” To ensure each location is secure, only patients, parents and caregivers will be allowed inside, and those customers will pick up their prescriptions from a pharmacist. Kingsley says patients will also go through a counseling process.

While the state will be focusing on tracking the effectiveness and safety of medical cannabis, according to the Department of Health, Kingsley says MinnMed will be focusing on setting a high standard of quality and control. “By extracting the medicinal components from the plant, we’re able to very precisely control the exact dose in each pill or oil,” Kingsley says. “That’s not the norm in the industry, and we’re trying to raise that standard. You’ll see us do a lot of quality testing to ensure we are only turning out the best medicines.”

Impact in Moorhead

MinnMed’s decision to locate a dispensary in Moorhead came from Kingsley’s goal of ensuring all patients have access to medical cannabis. “Patient access was the most important thing for me, and we believe Moorhead is a reasonable location for those living in northwest Minnesota. The city has been very reasonable and approachable as well,” he says. In June, MinnMed anticipated opening the Moorhead location in mid-August.

“We received a warm reception from the city, as they understand what we’re doing,” Kingsley says. “I believe the people of Moorhead will be proud that their city is part of this once they realize what we’re doing. If there’s been any resistance, it’s because of people misunderstanding what we’re doing.”

Matt Maslowski, economic development director for the city of Moorhead, says the city only has positive things to say about MinnMed’s decision to locate in Moorhead. “We’ve treated this as any other professional business, because that’s what it is. It’s a legitimate business that is essentially a pharmacy,” Maslowski says.

As economic development director, Maslowski assisted MinnMed in choosing a location within the city. “Earlier this year, when it became evident we were being chosen as a location, we started preparing to welcome them. In the last several months, several different city offices have been involved in assisting them to ensure they’re following our city ordinances,” Maslowski says. “I helped them find a few possible locations for site options and helped determine which areas were the best. The spot they chose was chosen mainly because of its location in our central business corridor downtown. Their business plans are very similar to the surrounding businesses, so we all believe it will work well there. Our thought basically was, ‘where does a pharmacy fit?’ and the central business corridor downtown makes sense.”

The Moorhead MinnMed dispensary is considered a destination spot by Maslowski, meaning it brings in a niche audience. However, because it is a niche market, “it brings in new traffic and new buying power,” Maslowski says. “People who might not come to our downtown will now be there, and we hope they’ll stay down there and visit our shops and restaurants. Economically, it’s a win. We don’t see a negative.”

The Moorhead dispensary will be located in the 7th & Main Plaza, 104 7th St. S, in between Pizza Hut and Liberty Tax Service. Maslowski says he hasn’t heard any concerns from existing area businesses but is looking forward to discussions MinnMed will be hosting with its neighboring businesses. “We don’t want any misperceptions about what they’re doing. It’s another professional business that is very tightly monitored,” Maslowski says.

Part of Kingsley’s job is also to reach out to health care providers to get them on board with the state’s program. “We’re working with all health care options to ensure every patient who is eligible has the opportunity for this treatment,” Kingsley says. “So far, Mayo Clinic has been very receptive to us. Others have been more reserved, but they see the possibility.”

Physicians at Sanford Health in Fargo will each individually be allowed to decide whether they will certify patients for the medical cannabis program, says Dr. James Volk, an internal medicine doctor at Sanford. Volk says because his practice is on the hospital side only, he won’t be utilizing medical cannabis within his practice.

“Our physicians have been talking, though I haven’t heard anyone specifically say they will be prescribing medical cannabis as a treatment,” Volk says. “I have heard some concerns as well.”

Volk says his colleagues’ concerns about Minnesota’s medical cannabis program include that, from a federal standpoint, it is an illegal substance and there isn’t a large amount of literature about using medical cannabis for a long period of time. However, Volk says Sanford is expecting to have patients seeking medical cannabis so administration is creating a handout for providers and patients. “We want to have some information readily available, and we want any initial questions to be answered and get them connected to the state’s registry,” Volk says.

Lake Region Healthcare in Fergus Falls, Minn., is also in the process of establishing parameters for both inpatient and outpatient medical cannabis policies, says Katie Johnson, vice president of marketing and communications.

On the outpatient side, Lake Region has two physicians who will be applying for certification to qualify patients to enroll in the system. On the inpatient side, Johnson says Lake Region is working through the issues related to patients who could potentially come to the hospital with medical cannabis they have already obtained and are using and how the hospital’s health care professionals will manage the medical cannabis as part of caring for these patients.

While it may seem surprising Volk says he doesn’t know of any Sanford physicians who will be applying to qualify patients, the Minnesota Medical Association released survey results in early June showing only 9 percent of doctors licensed in the state of Minnesota plan to participate in the program. Another 17 percent of physicians hadn’t decided, and 7 percent said they don’t have any patients who would have a qualifying condition for the drug.

MinnMed can start selling its medications July 1, as set by the legislature. “We’re excited about this opportunity, and are committed to having everything in place at our Minneapolis dispensary by that date,” Kingsley says. “From there, we’ll continue the rollout in our other three locations.” PB

Kayla Prasek Staff Writer