Gold Leaf cannabis dispensary opens on West Street in Annapolis

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Gold Leaf cannabis dispensary opens on West Street in Annapolis
Posted on 4/22/2019 at 21:26:39 by Will Croom 2

Gold Leaf dispensary on West Street looks more like the lobby of a swanky hotel than a medical cannabis dispensary.

A bodyguard with an earpiece and dark suit swings open the glass door to usher in customers. Natural light coming through the glass and gold facade glints off shelved displays of glass water pipes. Faux vines and succulents rise up the back wall; on the other side, very real cannabis buds sit in glass canisters, backlit with individual LED lights.

Co-owner Larry Adler designed the new dispensary with an upscale aesthetic on purpose. He wants to do away with the negative connotations surrounding cannabis use and the stereotype of a dingy, shopping center dispensary where users go to get their medicine.

�We want people to be able to come in here and be happy to be here,� Adler said.

Gold Leaf Cannabis Dispensary on West Street recently opened to sell medical marijuana. (Paul W. Gillespie)
Patients of all ages filtered in and out of the dispensary on a gray Friday. Patients hand over government-issued IDs and show their medical marijuana card. Customers have to be of age, 21 or older, to enter unless they have a card.

There�s not one kind of person who comes to the dispensary, said general manager Michael Tese. The oldest patient Gold Leaf staff served was a 98-year-old woman with knee pain. Nor is there one kind of product.

Gold Leaf offers two dozen strains of marijuana � Birthday Cake has been the most popular thus far. But the dispensary also offers tinctures, elixirs, hash oil products, pre-rolled blunts, even cannabis infused olive oil. In a room separated from the lobby, �budtenders� help patients navigate the overwhelming variety. Gold Leaf also provides patients with journals where they can track their experience with each product � what it was, when they took it, how intense the high felt, whether they liked it or not.

The Maryland General Assembly legalized medical cannabis in 2013, but the infrastructure to make it available to patients wasn�t in place until more recently. Dispensaries, producers and growers faced a lengthy application process, beginning in 2015. In Anne Arundel County, some of these businesses faced steeper challenges because of zoning regulations put in place by former County Executive Steve Schuh. These have since been rolled back under the new County Council and County Executive Steuart Pittman.

One grower and three distributors, including Gold Leaf, operate in Anne Arundel County. Another seven county growers and distributors have pre-approval for a license from the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission. Businesses with pre-approval have until Aug. 30 to find a location, get inspections and become fully operational by Sept. 30, said cannabis commission spokeswoman Jennifer White. If the business can�t get up and running by then, the owners can apply for an extension through December, but only if there are circumstances out of their control.

�There are also issues where maybe two owners aren�t seeing eye to eye,� White said. �They have to either get it together, get operational or get out. It has to be a legitimate �We couldn�t help it� reason.�

The dispensary has been controversial in the past.

Podrog, the co-owner, was sued in federal court for alleged discrimination of Hispanic employees at his previous car wash business. He has since settled, but did not admit guilt.

�We, as a company and me as an individual, have always denied and continued to deny the validity of any of these claims,� he told The Capital.

Though the dispensary is just outside city limits, the Greater Parole Community Association and Alderwoman Rhonda Pindell-Charles, who represents Parole, oppose the dispensary. Pindell-Charles sent a letter in May 2018 and again in March to the Cannabis Commission asking the body to deny Adler and Podrog�s application.

She cited worries her community was becoming a place where things others don�t want are built. Her most recent opposition stems from concerns the dispensary will not be insured, due to federal law criminalizing marijuana, and is not benefiting the community. Adler said the business is insured.

Reached Friday, she said her stance has not changed.

Despite the protests, Adler feels there is a need for medical marijuana dispensaries in Anne Arundel County, where there are 9,094 patients eligible for medical marijuana treatment. There are more than 90,000 people registered with the commission and more than 60,000 certified patients in the state.

Ultimately, Adler said he would like to see medical cannabis used to treat those detoxing from opioid addiction, a painful process with potentially severe side-effects such as anxiety, nausea or abdominal pain. There are ongoing studies about the potentially helpful effects of cannabis on people who are going through withdraw.

�You know, it's not going to be 100% comfortable,� he said. �But it will make a lot more comfortable than they were when they were detoxing.

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