Page 1 - CANNABIS NEWS FEB 2019
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The First Stop in                       CANNABIS
                                                                                        Our “Lift the                           SPOTLIGHT:
                                                                                        Banned” Tour                            Thomas Quigley,
                                                                                         Presented by                           House of Jane
                                                                                        Trulieve in
                                                                                        Pompano Beach
                                                                                                    page 42                                page 40




                                     FEBRUARY 2019








                                                      Knox Medical Opens Miami

                                              Dispensary; First of Five in the Area



                                               BY VANESSA ORR

                                               On Saturday, Jan. 19,
                                             Knox Medical opened
                                             the doors to its first
                                             dispensary in Miami-
                                             Dade County. But this
                                             was not the first time
                                             that  the  company
             (l-r) Jill Giles and Dawn Yarnell                                                                                    Mike James
                                             began serving this
                                             patient population.
           Florida Medical                   tory  of   servicing                                                           Former NFL
                                               “We have a long his-
                                                                      (l-r) Jose Maria Alvarez; Erika Vazquez; Michelle Roth,
                Cannabis                     patients in the Miami-  Manager, North Miami Beach; Jose Hidalgo, CEO; Mario   Player Becomes
                                                    metro
                                                             area
                                             Dade
                                             through our delivery      Luna, GM of North Miami Beach; Mark Batievsky,
              Conference                     service, but this is our          Director of Retail Operations                   Cannabis
                                             first bricks-and-mortar
          Provides Robust                    location in this area,” said Scott Klenet, public relations spokesman for Knox Medical,   Advocate
                                             which was one of the first medical marijuana treatment centers in the state.
                                               “Our company is firmly based in Miami, and we’re very much connected to this
                  Look at                    community,” he added. “We’re extremely excited to be expanding more concretely –   BY DANIEL CASCIATO
                                             literally - into the area to physically connect to the patients that we’ve served for years,
               Expanding                     and to introduce ourselves to new neighbors who might not know us yet.”    In the fall of 2013, after Tampa Bay
                                               Knox’s new location at 175 NW 167th Street in Miami is one of five planned Miami-
                                                                                                                      Buccaneers rookie running back Mike
                 Industry                                                                          Continued on page 45  James fractured his left ankle during a
                                                                                                                      Monday Night Football game against the
                                                                                                                      Miami Dolphins, he was prescribed opi-
                                                          Thoughts on Marketing                                       oid painkillers.
                  BY VANESSA ORR
                                                                                                                        But James, a University of Miami grad-
          Since Florida legalized medical                                                                             uate who now lives in Coral Gables, FL,
        cannabis in 2016, the industry has grown   Your Medical Cannabis Practice                                     quickly developed a dependency on the
        tremendously. And while there are now                                                                         drugs that were supposed to help him. To
        many options for patients, physicians,                                                                        get off opioids, his wife, Aubrey, recom-
        health professionals and more, it’s some-            BY JANE GRANT                                            mended medical marijuana as an alterna-
        times difficult to find the appropriate                                                                       tive to ease his pain. James immediately
        answers in a sea of information.       Although voters approved a constitutional amend-                       saw therapeutic benefits which helped
          That’s where the Florida Medical   ment in 2016 expanding Florida’s medical cannabis pro-                   his general well-being.
        Cannabis Conference (FMCC) comes in.   gram, federal and state restrictions still present chal-                 “Medical marijuana was a much better
        Now in its fourth year, the event attracts   lenges. Nonetheless, demand for medical cannabis con-            option and it was beneficial in helping
        people from all walks of life and all pro-  tinues to become more mainstream, particularly among              me with my pain,” recalls James.
        fessions to learn more about products,   the state’s large over-65 population.  If you are evaluating         “Opioids was taking a turn for the worse.
        treatments and solutions. The event will   the best ways to market your medical cannabis practice,            With cannabis, I could do more things
        be held Feb. 22-24 at the Orlando    here are three considerations.                                           and I didn’t have the same sedation and
        Marriott World Space Center.           First, remember that while building your practice is                   negative feelings as I had with opioids.”
          “It’s a great industry, but it’s confusing   your goal, effective marketing is based on a strategy.           Since cannabis helped his pain subside,
        to many,” said Jill Giles, who founded   When it comes to marketing medical cannabis, consider                James wanted to continue taking it.
        FMCC with Dawn Yarnell, who under-   focusing your marketing on something of value to       Jane Grant        However, the NFL still considers mari-
        stands the benefits of medical cannabis   potential patients, such as education, rather than sales.           juana a banned substance.
        first-hand. “Our goal is to help educate   Using cannabis products legally for health reasons is a relatively new opportunity and   In August of last year, James was
        those who are curious, and to help those   as such creates questions in some people’s minds. Are there side effects? Will it make   required to take a drug test as part of the
        who may be afraid to talk directly to their   me groggy? Will I get high? Is it addictive? People are likely to turn to Google search-  NFL's routine testing program. The test
        doctors; we also want to provide contin-  es for answers, and they should find you there. An informative blog on your website   came back positive for marijuana and led
        uing education to health professionals   can position you as the trusted, go-to source of information. Be prepared to make a   him to file a therapeutic use exemption
        and physicians who want to learn more   substantial time investment in writing at least one informative blog post per week or   (TUE) for cannabis. The NFL denied his
        about medical marijuana.”            invest in the services of a talented writer to write the blog posts for you. Make sure   request. Repeated positive tests can lead
          Giles and Yarnell are strong propo-  your website represents you well and is properly coded for search. The commitment   to suspensions or expulsions from the
        nents of medical cannabis; Yarnell was   is substantial if you’re going to do it right, but you will be rewarded by earning peo-  league. But James was never banned from
        diagnosed with systemic lupus 15 years   ple’s gratitude for providing the information they seek.
                         Continued on page 44                                                     Continued on page 42                 Continued on page 46
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