Pubdate: Sat, 31 May 2014
Source: Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, CT)
Copyright: 2014sMediaNews Group, Inc
Contact: http://www.ctpost.com/feedback/
Website: http://www.ctpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/574
Author: Ken Dixon

MEDICAL MARIJUANA'S FIRST PRODUCT, JOBS

Months before any cannabis-based products will reach patients, 
Connecticut's new medical-marijuana industry has already created 
hundreds of jobs -- in construction.

Former factories are being reconfigured into secure pharmaceutical 
facilities for the growing, harvesting, curing and preparation of 
various strains of marijuana that should be delivered to the state's 
dispensaries by early fall.

Since the state awarded four marijuana producer licenses in January, 
an estimated $20 million has been committed to the West Haven, 
Watertown, Portland and Simsbury buildings that in a few weeks will 
begin growing thousands of pounds of pot.

"As far as we know, folks are busy building out facilities, getting 
ready to produce product," Department of Consumer Protection 
Commissioner William M. Rubenstein said in a recent interview. "They 
have six months to become operational."

In a West Haven industrial zone parallel to Interstate 95, David 
Lipton, managing partner of the Fairfield-based Advanced Grow Labs, 
is supervising the conversion of 26,000 square feet of space that 
will house sterile laboratories, heavily lighted grow areas and 
budding rooms that will promote marijuana flowers, the part of the 
plant with the highest concentration of active ingredients.

During a tour of the sprawling, noisy one-story building last week, 
more than a dozen electricians, sheet-rock experts and other 
subcontractors worked to transform the space. The biggest 
construction surprise came, Lipton said, when his structural engineer 
announced the roof wasn't strong enough to support the heavy-duty 
HVAC equipment needed to create an optimal growing climate, as well 
as the planned ceilings and rows of grow lights.

Steel roof beams have since been reinforced to handle the anticipated 
load and special, moisture-resistant sheetrock will line the walls.

Advanced Grow Labs is one of a series of new projects that are 
bringing economic growth, said Joseph A. Riccio Jr., commissioner of 
development for West Haven.

Last year, city building permits brought in $800,000 to the city, but 
in the first five months of this year, the total has already topped $1 million.

He said the medical marijuana industry is obviously fostering jobs 
while the region still recovers from the recession.

"This is a good boost for tradesmen," he said during a phone 
interview last week. "Every job is a good job."

Growing taxes

Lipton estimates his company has invested about $2.5 million in 
construction and equipment, employing dozens of workers at a time, 
from structural and mechanical engineers, to steel fabricators to 
sheet-rock installers, tapers, masons, electricians and plumbers. 
Those workers are generating Worker's Compensation and payroll taxes 
for the state.

"There's definitely a positive effect on the economy," he said, 
adding various building and work permits from West Haven generated 
revenue for the city and that once up and running, the company will 
also pay personal property taxes.

It was on Advanced Grow Labs' cold, then-empty manufacturing floor, 
that Rubenstein and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy introduced the four 
producers who had been selected from 16 applicants.

"In early April we got our full building permit and then the 
construction began and in about seven weeks we've completed an 
incredible amount of work here," Lipton said. "Hopefully, within the 
next few weeks we will complete some more and by early July, mid-July 
we will be done with construction."

 From there it will be about 90 days to harvest.

"We know we're doing the right thing here," said Lipton, adding that 
it may be a long time before his multi-million-dollar investment is 
recouped. "We'll do our best to make the best product. This is a 
long-term business. I mean, how often do you see a start-up 
pharmaceutical company threaten Big Pharma?"

High-end kitchen

Lipton's grower, Klaus Polttila, standing near what will be employee 
locker rooms, looked around at the building renovations and thought 
of the future.

"Growing is the easy part," Polttila said. "Once the construction is 
done, we'll ramp up very quickly."

Other rooms will be used for drying and curing marijuana. The front 
entrance near Frontage Road features bullet-proof glass and a 
security nerve center. Toward the back of the building, in a room 
with a large walk-in safe, will be the kitchen, where the 
medical-grade cannabis will be ground up in a process unique to the 
nation. An outside laboratory will be contracted to test batches to 
assure they contain the percentage of active ingredients allowed in 
state regulations.

The marijuana will be packaged for secure delivery to the six 
designated dispensaries. While traditional dried marijuana will be 
ready to be smoked, Lipton is planning a variety of other products. 
Extracting machines in the kitchen will remove chemically active oils 
from marijuana for use in smokeless vaporizers, baked goods and topical salves.

Thirty-two miles to the north, in a hilltop Watertown industrial park 
near Route 8, Ethan Ruby, CEO of Theraplant, is supervising a similar 
conversion to a 63,000-square-foot building, about half of which will 
be renovated for initial production. The operation will have a 
900-square-foot safe for storing market-ready material.

Ruby, who heads the state growers' association, said his company has 
invested about $8 million, nearly half of the estimated $20 million 
the four producers have spent for the initial phases of operations.

On a recent day, Ruby counted 73 workers on-site, including 
landscapers, sheet-rockers and electricians.

"It's going well," Ruby said in a phone interview. "Our team that we 
put together has been incredibly diligent. The construction company 
has been on-time and on-budget during every single phase. And we 
couldn't be happier with local building inspectors, fire, police. 
Couldn't be happier. Patients should have product by the end of the summer."

Laboratory science

Theraplant will not have a kitchen to create baked goods, but does 
have plans for extracting the THC and other cannabinoids that are the 
plants' active ingredients. About 2,000 patients have registered so 
far, with ailments including cancer, Parkinson's disease, multiple 
sclerosis, HIV/AIDs, Crohn's disease and epilepsy.

Ruby has contacted laboratories that will be required to test batches 
of harvested plant material, but it's too soon to sign agreements, he said.

It's too soon to determine what marijuana will cost patients, but 
Lipton and Ruby both said they will seek to make it competitive, or 
cheaper than the underground market. The website www.priceofweed.com 
rates Connecticut's market at $300 to $400 per ounce. Participants in 
the medical marijuana program will be able to purchase up to 
two-and-a-half ounces per month.

Vaporization of the drug will likely become the preferred delivery 
method, Ruby said, allowing patients to inhale the chemical compounds 
without actually smoking the material.

"The more health-conscious will be gravitating toward this," Ruby 
said. "And doctors and pharmacists will be better able to control 
prescribed amounts."

He feels good about the producers, including CT Pharmaceutical 
Solutions,in Portland and Curaleaf in Simsbury, and their ability to 
meet market demands. "Each cares about getting medicine to the 
patients in a controlled way," he said. "As a producer, I'm not 
trying to grow a better strain than David Lipton. We're in 
competition with people who don't believe this is going to work."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom