Columbia Care LLC, the nation’s largest medical cannabis company, will open its first dispensary in Delaware to qualifyed patients on Friday.
The facility will be located at 200 S. DuPont Boulevard in Smyrna. It is expected to serve patients in an area extending from Middletown to Dover and south.
With the opening of this facility, dubbed a Compassion Center in Delaware, Columbia Care becomes only the second medical cannabis operator in the state and the first to offer dose-metered pharmaceutical-quality cannabis-based medicines.
The other is First State Compassion Center, which has a dispensary and grow center west of Wilmington and a dispensary in Lewes. Another dispensary and grow center is under development in Newark.
“Opening our first dispensary in Delaware marks our expansion into yet another highly-regulated medical cannabis program. We are proud to further expand access to our industry-leading pharmaceutical-quality cannabis-based medicines to patients in need of consistent and reliable products,” said Nicholas Vita, CEO of Columbia Care.
“In addition to setting the standard in the industry by producing the highest-quality cannabis-based medicines, we are committed to providing a superior patient experience. We have conducted more than 750,000 successful patient interactions, during which dedicated professionals at dispensary locations across the U.S. spend one-on-one time with patients to understand their needs and provide them with transformational cannabis-based medicines. We look forward to continuing this legacy of exceptional patient care in Kent County and throughout the entire state of Delaware.”
The dispensary will be staffed by a dedicated team trained to provide the highest level of professionalism, compassion, confidentiality, security and respect for patients and their conditions, a release stated.
The Columbia Care Smyrna dispensary will provide a portfolio of cured leaf products from numerous strains grown by Columbia Care’s team.
These products will be offered alongside Columbia Care’s unique dose-metered pharmaceutical-quality offerings, which will be expanded upon in coming months, the release stated.
The pharmaceutical-quality offerings include tinctures, vaporization oils, and oral capsules.
Columbia Care products begin with a cultivation process that takes place in the company’s controlled-environment agricultural production facility in Milford. Milford was to have been the site of the dispensary, which was later shifted to Smyrna.
“The manufacturing and refinement processes take place in highly controlled labs with trained chemists who follow strict quality control guidelines to ensure product safety and consistency. All products undergo independent batch testing for a variety of measures to ensure the highest levels of purity,” the release stated.
Columbia Care’s dispensaries are concentrated on the East Coast, including New York City and Pennsylvania and Maryland. The company also has a presence in Illinois, Florida, California and Arizona. The privately held company is based in New York City.
