Updated Oct. 30
A seven-person team from the state’s Cannabis Control Commission inspected Patient Centric’s grow facility and medical dispensary in West Tisbury on Oct. 22, the penultimate step before the commission can vote to approve the company’s license. Both facilities passed inspection, according to Patient Centric CEO Geoff Rose. Patient Centric is also seeking a separate adult-use permit that has yet to be approved, and is therefore not ready for inspection.
Prior to learning of the approval, Rose said he thought the state inspection went well, and that he believed the lead inspector would recommend his facility to the commission for a vote. The next public meeting of the commission is Nov. 7 in Boston. If the commission votes to approve Patient Centric’s license, Rose said he will go into high gear.
“Within 72 hours, we would begin to cultivate,” he said. “If that occurs in early November, we will be ready to serve [medical marijuana] patients in early March.”
Rose said four of the seven state officials inspected the dispensary at 510 State Rd. Among the litany of things they examined were waste disposal procedure, equipment, and records capacity.
“I would say they spent a fair amount of time looking at our waste management system and processing,” Rose said. “For example, at the dispensary, in the vault, we have a waste bin.”
Rose said the bin is associated with a log that must be precisely kept.
“Somebody purchases something and they come back and say, ‘You know, I really didn’t want this,’ or for one reason or another they return product — that product has to be put into that waste bin, it has to be logged in, and then eventually transported to a licensed facility …”
There, Rose said, it will be composted. Because of the nature of cannabis, Rose noted, it cannot be disposed of through incineration.
At the cultivation facility at 90 Dr. Fisher Road, which includes a laboratory and a commercial kitchen, three of the inspectors were equally methodical, and pored over documentation, examined equipment, and evaluated security features, including the 36 cameras.
Rose said Patient Centric is required to monitor all those cameras and store the footage.
“We were asked, for example, to go back 90 days and pull up an image of a particular camera at 3 am,” he said. “The capacity we have for storing video in both facilities is probably almost well over a year.”
Rose said the vehicle that will transport product from the cultivation facility to the dispensary is a 2019 Ford F150 van that also has cameras on it, and a GPS tracking device. That vehicle was examined by two state inspectors on Oct. 29 and passed, Rose noted.
As to varieties of cannabis that will be offered at the dispensary, that may be trial and error, Rose said. “We’ve researched in great detail what the other dispensaries throughout the state have provided, and we’ve right-sized that for what we know the mainland population is looking for in the way of strains,” he said. “The Vineyard may or may not be significantly different. But certainly we will continue to evaluate, add and subtract different strains, and somewhat similarly on the nonflower or edible product, we think there will be a need and a want for chocolates and fruit chews and lozenges, but we don’t know in what proportion.”
Rose said the cultivation facility is capable of cross-breeding or genetically editing cannabis to create new strains, if need be.
Asked if any special firefighting precautions or training were necessary, especially in regard to the cultivation facility, and the smoke firefighters could potentially be exposed to, Rose said, “All I can say is that the fire department has been in that facility — both the dispensary and the grow facility — and found it to be compliant.”
West Tisbury Fire Chief Manuel Estrella III told The Times precaution would definitely need to be taken in fighting a fire where cannabis smoke may be at play. “We’d have to go in with Scott [air] packs,” he said.
Chief Estrella said Patient Centric has installed a special antenna to help firefighters communicate by radio. Because the cultivation building is metal, Chief Estrella said, radio communication was hampered, but the antenna has provided a solution.
“There is no sprinkler system,” Rose said. “The building is not required to have sprinklers.”
Chief Estrella said he believes the building is due for a final inspection by the state Fire Marshal’s office. Rose confirmed so, but said that inspection is a separate affair, and does not have bearing on the Cannabis Control Commission’s assessment.
A code compliance engineer is expected to inspect the cultivation facility to ensure it adheres to state fire code as amended to address cannabis operations, Jennifer Mieth, a spokesperson for the Fire Marshal’s office, said. The inspection hasn’t yet been scheduled, she said.
Rose said he was provided with an “acknowledgement of inspection” by the state lead inspector on Oct. 22.
“Basically that indicates he’s been here, he’s conducted the inspection, and that if there are any deficiencies, I would know within three business days of the inspection date.”
In conversation with the lead compliance officer, Rose said he later learned that official was “in the process of writing up the recommendation.” On Oct. 25 he learned the facilities passed and the recommendation was submitted.
The Times has not been able to confirm with the Cannabis Control Commission either the inspection of Patient Centric facilities or that they passed. Calls and emails to the commission haven’t been returned.
is this kind of security really necessary ?