CannaBIZ: Medical cannabis dispensaries prepare to open | Business

But the 23-year-old is fully prepared to do so, as he and his business partner, Reid Turner, plan to open the aptly named High Hopes Cannabis in January.

It is located at 1201 N. Gloster St., Suite E in the Crye-Leike Plaza in Tupelo next to Mariner Finance and Funky Cones.

For Truong, the venture is about pursuing a long-held dream.

“I’ve been going to school all my life to be a doctor, and I still want to be be a doctor,” he said. “I want to help people, and in many ways, this is what I’m doing. And after I get this venture going, who’s to say I couldn’t go back to med school.”

But there is an additional challenge Truong faces. A Tupelo High School graduate and an honors graduate in biochemistry from the University of Mississippi, Truong is the son of Vietnamese immigrants. While he has the support of his siblings and some other relatives, he hasn’t told his parents about dropping out of medical school.

“Well, I guess this is when the news is coming out for them,” he said. “But in the end, I hope they come around and see this is a really good thing.”

Nevertheless, he is forging ahead with his bold plan to open a dispensary, which he describes as being designed to be sleek and modern, much like an Apple store. Staff will wear medical scrubs so there’s no doubt that cannabis use is for prescribed use only.

High Hopes Cannabis is one of 11 dispensaries licensed to sell medical cannabis in Lee County, according to the most recent listing from the Mississippi Department of Revenue — more than any other county in the state. Harrison County on the Gulf Coast has the second most with 10.

In the rest of Northeast Mississippi, Lafayette County has four licensed dispensaries, Oktibbeha County has three, and Alcorn and Prentiss counties have one each.

Optometrist Joe Kea is another license-holder in Tupelo. Like Truong, he too believes that medical cannabis is beneficial.

That’s because he’s seen it at work. He and a friend, Jeff Webb, an attorney in Carthage, are business partners because of their experiences with marijuana’s medicinal properties. 

“One of our very best friends we knew college died from pancreatic cancer seven or eight years ago, and we saw what it did to him,” Kea said. “Back then, they only had cannabis products for people with epilepsy. But his oncologist got him some THC, and it really prolonged his life.”

Fast forward a few years, and Kea and Webb decided when the medical cannabis legislation passed, they would open a dispensary. Those plans have now grown to five Green Magnolia Dispensary locations across the state.

In Tupelo, Green Magnolia is at 3437 Tupelo Commons Suite 101 next to Crossroads Rehabilitation Services.

“It’s a good cause,” Kea said. “It’s highly regulated. I think a lot of people feel like when you have one of these establishments, there’s going to be vagrants with 40s in their hands and smoking weed outside. But we’ll have 30-40 cameras in here, and plus you can’t even get in without an ID card. Everything you do and touch is monitored and highly regulated.”

The overwhelming majority of Mississippi voters approved the sale of medical marijuana in November 2020. More than 816,107 Mississippians voted for some kind of medical marijuana plan. That represented 68.5% of those who voted for or against medical marijuana.

But the state Supreme Court invalidated the results of that election six months later by ruling the initiative was not properly on the ballot.

A legislative alternative, Initiative 65, was approved by 766,478 Mississippians, a 73.5% margin. 

In February, Gov. Tate Reeves signed an amended version of the law allowing he medical use of marijuana for people with debilitating conditions such as cancer, AIDS and sickle cell disease.

After Reeves signed the bill into law, Truong knew he had to have a bullet-proof business plan – and attract investors – to open a dispensary. Time was of the essence. The first to market reaps the most rewards, after all.

Truong was wrapping up his second semester at med school, and the door was opening.

“I knew I had to get it going because I wouldn’t be able to do it in the future,” he said. “If you don’t get in early, you usually will never get in.”

The new law requires a $40,000 license fee. Dispensaries must be at least 1,000 feet away from a church or school. A dispensary can be no closer than 1,500 feet from another dispensary.

Patients can buy up to to 3.5 grams of cannabis per day, up to six days a week. That is about 3 ounces per month. The law sets taxes on production and sale of cannabis, and it specifies that plants must be grown indoors under controlled conditions

Under regulations set by the department, medical marijuana businesses may have websites and logos to brand their businesses, but they may not do any other marketing or advertising. They are allowed to have websites.

Truong is getting advice from Turner’s father, Frank, who is serving as a business consultant to High Hopes. A veteran of the furniture industry for 40 years, he’s helping provide invaluable advice to his son and Truong.

“I’m strictly a sounding board, providing advice and hopefully some wisdom,” he said. “I’m watching and enjoying it. If I see a potential hazard ahead, I’ll draw attention to it, but Jason has often already picked up on it.”

Frank Turner believes in the efficacy of medical marijuana, which is why he is involved.

“We can make a difference in the medicinal aspect, but we’re going to have an uphill battle changing the perception of the marketplace that the government started in the 60s,” he said. “The patients and the doctors need alternatives, and only now is information coming to light about medical cannabis.”

While High Hopes is opening in January, Green Magnolia thinks it can open by November.

“I think some of the growers and cultivators will have flowers available by the first of November,” Kea said. “We have to find someone that will sell to us. The state sets the price, and I think it will be very high right out of the gate. But I believe the market will regulate itself, and they’ll get better.”

The new law also requires dispensaries to buy only from Mississippi growers.

Kea believes that’s a good thing. 

“The tax dollars will be good for the state, and certainly the patients will benefit,” he said. “It’s really good for people with pain.”

Kea acknowledges that using medical marijuana won’t be for everyone, but also believes there are lots of Mississippians it can help. That’s why he’s getting into the business.

Anything that helps ease people’s pain is a net positive. 

“If cannabis happens to be one of those alternatives, and you don’t have to prescribe an opioid or some brain-altering chemical or depression or anxiety, I think they deserve that avenue especially as regulated it is by the state,” he said.