Florida’s First Marijuana Dispensary Opens In Tallahassee

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.- The first marijuana dispensary opened in Florida at 800 Capital Circle SE, Tallahassee on Tuesday.

Trulieve is a licensed cannabis grower and distributor that won the race among six other medical cannabis licensees to open the state’s first retail store. The store will sell its proprietary high-CBD, low-THC strain of marijuana named Vita Jay with plans for a stronger strain in the future.

Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers said the company had to complete a rigorous 2,000 page application that was “very technical,” and pass different inspections from the Department of Health.

Trulieve is involved in every step of the cultivation and sale. Its processing plant, Hackney Nurseries, is located in Quincy.

“We, of course, hope and anticipate a warm welcome from our Tallahassee friends, neighbors and community,” Rivers said. “We’re local, and that’s why it was really important for us to open our first dispensary here.”

According to Rivers, she and the company hope the public will see the medicinal value in Trulieve’s product and the benefits it can bring to various health needs and issues.

“I think once people realize that it really is medicine, that it’s not in any way recreational, they will see why people need it,” Rivers said.

Trulieve will have a higher-THC strain available in August due to Florida’s Right to Try law. The law gives patients with diagnosed terminal illness the right to try certain approved “experimental” drugs or ones not found in pharmacies.

To obtain the higher-THC strain, patients must be diagnosed as terminally ill by two different physicians.

State laws allow only cash transactions at the dispensaries so customers will not be allowed to make marijuana purchases with plastic at the store.

The companies website has “coming soon” locations to Pensacola, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Bradenton.

Trulieve has a press conference on Tuesday at 2 a.m. at the Capital Circle location.