Groundbreaking held for medical marijuana grower in Greene County
Observer-Reporter
Steelers Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Ham waits to be interviewed at a groundbreaking ceremony in 2017 for the AGRiMED Industries medical marijuana growing operation being built in Cumberland Township. Construction of the first building can be seen in the background.
Bob Niedbala/Observer-Reporter
Sterling Crockett, chief executive officer of AGRiMED Industries, speaks at a groundbreaking ceremony for the medical marijuana growing operation being built in Cumberland Township. At his side is Steelers Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Ham, who works for AGRiMED.
Groundbreaking held for medical marijuana grower in Greene County
{child_byline}Bob Niedbala{/child_byline}
NEMACOLIN – Property on which there were once plans to construct a power plant that would burn waste coal from the nearby Nemacolin Mine coal refuse dump will soon go green – medical marijuana green, that is.
Groundbreaking ceremonies were held Wednesday at the 61-acre site off Thomas Road in Cumberland Township for the first building of AGRiMED Industries’ medical marijuana growing and processing plant.
The company will initially build a 16,000-square-foot manufactured steel building in which it will begin growing medical cannabis for the state’s new medical marijuana program.
Local officials and company representatives attending the ceremonies touted the benefits the plant will have in creating local jobs as well as in producing a product that can benefit those with various medical conditions.
“Everyone knows about the problems in the coal industry that have hit Greene County particularly hard in the last few years,” Greene County Commissioner Blair Zimmerman said. “Any industry that can create family-sustaining jobs is good.”
The plant is initially expected to create about 20 jobs, a number that will increase as plant operations expand to about 60, AGRiMED officials said.
Jobs that will be created by the new plant are important, state Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, said, but so too is the potential benefits medical marijuana may have in aiding in the fight against the opioid epidemic.
For the first time in Pennsylvania, doctors will be able to prescribe medical cannabis for pain, in place of a narcotic, she said. Snyder said she believes “with every fiber of my being” that medical marijuana will be an asset in combatting the opioid crisis.
Serving as master of ceremonies for the event was Steelers Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Ham, who now works for AGRiMED.
Following the ceremony, Ham said he got on board with medical marijuana because of the potential benefits to people, including former athletes, who have suffered injuries and are in need of pain medication.
“I’ve been lucky in my pro career. I don’t have the injuries some of my other counterparts have around the NFL,” Ham said.
“But some of (the former players) are truly addicted to painkillers and the like, and if there is something out there, with medical marijuana, we’ve got to be able to take a look at that,” he said.
“Without question,” Ham said, “I think (medical marijuana) is beneficial and I think you can’t turn a blind eye to that.”
AGRiMED is required to have its plant in compliance with all state regulations and ready to begin growing marijuana by Dec. 20, said Sterling Crockett, AGRiMED’s chief executive officer.
The first building will hold about 2,400 plants, he said.
The marijuana will be grown and processed at the plant into the finished product. Medical marijuana by state law can be dispensed only as pills, oil, liquids, topical ointments or in a form administered by an inhaler. It cannot be dispensed in any form to be smoked.
Marijuana products grown and processed at the plant will be sold directly to the licensed dispensaries, Crockett said.
The company hopes to have its first products ready to distribute to dispensaries in the first quarter of next year, he said.
AGRiMED plans eventually to build a much larger 80,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art greenhouse at the site to produce marijuana as demand for the products grows, Crockett said.
AGRiMED’s application to grow medical marijuana received the highest score in the evaluation process used by the state to award the permits, Crockett noted. The state had received 177 applications for 12 permits.
Crockett spoke of the great reception the company had received from local officials and commended his team for developing the project.
The property on which the marijuana-growing operation will be constructed had been the proposed site several years ago of a coal waste-fired power plant that was being developed by Wellington Development LLC.
That project was eventually shelved. Last year, however, Hill Top Energy proposed building a 536-megawatt natural gas plant on part of the site. That company is currently seeking permits for the project. The power plant is expected to occupy 41 acres of the 102-acre Wellington site while AGRiMED’s operations will cover the remaining 61 acres.