Greensburg medical marijuana dispensary opens

Medical marijuana has come at last to Greensburg.

About 15 customers were waiting outside the dispensary on East Pittsburgh Street before it opened Thursday morning.

Most were existing medical marijuana patients who live near Greensburg, and previously had to drive to Monroeville, Pittsburgh or Washington to get their prescriptions.

“It’s super exciting,” said Jessica Hall, of Greensburg, who arrived minutes after the dispensary’s 10 a.m. opening. “It takes like an hour to go the other ones. You have to plan a whole day around it.”

The dispensary is owned by Keystone Integrated Care, but managed by Solevo Wellness, which owns dispensaries in Squirrel Hill and Cranberry.

Solevo’s Squirrel Hill dispensary has about 1,500 customers from Westmoreland County who now have a closer option, said Chief Operating Officer Sam Britz.

“There has been a lot of buzz,” he said. They’re so happy, because they’ve had to drive to Solevo in Squirrel HIll.

The Greensburg dispensary is mostly expected to cater to existing patients, rather than creating new medical marijuana consumers.

“We’re not talking about a whole new base of people,” Britz said.

The company is expecting between 80 and 100 customers a day at the Greensburg site.

The dispensary had a full range of products on opening day, including dry leaf, pills, tinctures and ointments.

However, due to problems with the statewide marijuana distribution system, some brands won’t be available until later this week, Britz said.

Customer Jennifer Reno of Hempfield said she hopes having a local dispensary will help reduce shortages.

She prefers taking marijuana in tincture or pill forms, but the dispensaries in Pittsburgh don’t always have these products.

“Supply does not equal demand in any way,” she said.

Customers said they’ve been eager for the site to open for a long time.

“We’ve been since the spring for this to open,” said Jerry Fetterman, of Latrobe.

The Greensburg dispensary was originally scheduled to open in March, but Keystone Integrated Care repeatedly delayed construction, citing funding problems. The management deal with Solevo was announced in November.

It is Westmoreland County’s only medical marijuana dispensary.

However, the state this week announced Chicago-based GTI Pennsylvania LLC received a permit to open a dispensary in Unity Township.

Solevo Wellness in Greensburg is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday.

Jacob Tierney is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jacob at 724-836-6646, jtierney@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Soolseem.