The first pharmaceutical cannabis company in the U.S. is on its way to opening in the California desert.
Royal Emerald Pharmaceuticals, slated to open in March in a former Kmart in Desert Hot Springs, will be the first private company to secure a Drug Enforcement Agency license to grow cannabis for the purpose of researching and developing medicines to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
The company plans to spend $400 million within the next five years on developing its facilities and hiring more than 600 people. Company leaders say they aim to create non-addictive, non-psychoactive medications that use cannabis as an alternative to opioids for pain management.
CEO Mark Crozier, a veteran who served as a U.S. Army Ranger and has spent decades in federal law enforcement, said there’s a need for more scientific testing to prove what the cannabis plant can do as a medicine.
"Nobody knows what it will do and nobody knows all the effects," he said. "It's all been word of mouth."
Read more at desertsun.com