Columbia Care Inc. (NEO: CCHW) (CSE: CCHW) (OTCQX: CCHWF) (FSE: 3LP) has announced today the opening of its first dispensary in Virginia as the only vertically integrated medical cannabis provider in the Hampton Roads/Norfolk region. This dispensary is located at 4012 Seaboard Court in Portsmouth, Virginia.
In April 2020, Columbia Care received the Virginia Board of Pharmacy’s approval to commence operations, and has since completed a 65,000-square-foot cultivation and manufacturing center with the dispensary located on-site.
“We are so grateful for the opportunity to serve the patients of Virginia. The team has been working hard to open our Portsmouth dispensary and we are all so excited to be able to serve the Hampton Roads patient community,” said Nicholas Vita, CEO of Columbia Care. “We are very proud to support economic growth in the region as part of our service to the community. Our dispensary and cultivation teams, as residents themselves, reflect the incredible diversity of Hampton Roads, and we are thrilled to have such strong leadership in place to establish our presence and become rooted in our community as we continue to grow together.”
Lisa Smith, a caregiver who has championed access to medical cannabis treatments for patients like her daughter, noted, “We are super excited about Columbia Care opening in Portsmouth. It has been a journey for me and my daughter, but I know many others have been fighting this battle to access life-saving medications for much longer than we have. In 2013, my daughter Haley’s seizures were out of control and we had no ‘traditional’ medications left to try. Our neurologist indicated he would prescribe cannabis if legally allowed to do so. It was from that point of desperation to save our daughter that we joined the fight to access cannabis and educate the Virginia legislature about its health benefits. Since being prescribed cannabis, my daughter’s quality of life has dramatically improved, with reductions in the number of seizures and increased cognitive ability. We are truly grateful to now have a way for many more patients to have access to cannabis in Virginia and look forward to expanding what is available to patients in the coming year.”
The Portsmouth dispensary will be open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. ET. To access Columbia Care’s state-licensed dispensary, patients must be deemed eligible by a certified practitioner and be registered with the Virginia Board of Pharmacy. For more information on Columbia Care’s Portsmouth location and current product offerings, please visit https://col-care.com/location/virginia/.