Mobile Cannabis

Accessibility to medical cannabis just got easier

By Richard Markosian

When The Utah State Legislature passed the initial medical cannabis legislation three years ago, they decided that there would not be cannabis dispensaries or pharmacies on every street corner as they are found ubiquitous among our neighbors in Colorado or Nevada. Instead, Utah adopted a model that would allow courier services to be involved so that patients all over Utah could order their product and have it sent like an Amazon order. Or so they hoped. This vision had not materialized until WholesomeCo Medical Cannabis Pharmacy in West Bountiful set up shop and about a year ago started offering home delivery to nearly every corner of Utah. CEO and founder Chris Jeffery put it this way: “We decided to take the approach of founding and establishing our company knowing that our technology would be the key factor in success.” Jeffery says they devoted considerable engineering resources to solving the problems of logistics, supply chain consistency, as well as providing a solid and easy-to-use e-commerce site that could drive a much higher level of service in cannabis delivery in Utah. WholesomeCo now offers statewide free delivery of medical cannabis serving 99% of rural communities in Utah with weekly deliveries. Jeffery knows well what goes into building a successful tech company and delivery service. He was the founder of a grocery delivery and food company in the Baltimore, Maryland area. The backend of what he is building in Utah is designed to be easily scalable and highly robust. “We already have impacted the market significantly, '' Jeffery says, adding, “Today about ten percent of all cannabis orders are made online in Utah and are delivered, WholesomeCo is handling the majority of those orders.” WholesomeCo headquarters in West Bountiful are highly secure, with security guards maintaining the safety. The waiting area for patients offers a highly professional staff including (by law) an on-site medical cannabis pharmacist who was fielding calls by patients. The difficulty in operating a medical cannabis pharmacy is that patients are still required to pay in cash or debit, and there is still a stigma attached to using a medicine that is a federally-banned, Schedule One controlled substance. Jeffery has believed for years that national political leaders would work to remove this blockade. “Once the laws are changed, much more money will flow into the space, and certainly more scientific studies for treatments and strains will move forward.” Jeffery believes this is very likely by

design. Big Pharma, Big Alcohol, and Big Tobacco all stand to lose significant market share as the growth of medical cannabis. Still the State of Utah has not made accessibility to medical cannabis especially difficult for low-income patients. The biggest roadblock WholesomeCo is currently facing is the requirement of everyone who is a patient to pay $150-$200 every six months to maintain and obtain their medical cannabis recommendation card through QMPs (Qualified Medical Providers) or primary care physicians. After the first year, only a yearly check up is required instead of every six months. Still, this regulatory road block creates an obvious barrier that companies operating out of Nevada use to their advantage. Nevada dispensaries advertise to Utah residents and most license plates in the parking lot are from Utahns visiting their locations over the border in Mesquite and Wendover, Nevada. These are potential tax dollars and customers the Utah market is losing because Utah has made it so difficult for medical cannabis patients to maintain their patient status. WholesomeCo is quickly expanding into growing their own products with their cultivator license. They are opening a 25,000 square foot greenhouse where they will be able to harvest up to six thousand pounds of flower per year, and process that for their own gummies and product line. That will take a while, but until then, they still offer the largest selection of medical cannabis products of any medical cannabis pharmacy in the state of Utah.

Chris Jeffery, CEO of WholesomeCo.