YELLOW SPRINGS, OHIO (WKYT) – We’re continuing to cover the rollout of medical cannabis in Kentucky as it gets closer to making its way onto shelves.
WKYT’s Kristen Kennedy traveled to Yellow Springs, Ohio, to give us a look at Cresco Labs’ cannabis cultivation facility. The company holds a license to move into Kentucky.
Farmland surrounds Cresco Labs’ warehouse in Ohio. Its gray exterior conceals the green inside. The site can hold up to 10,000 cannabis plants.
“We decide for the plants what time of day it is, what season of the year it is, how much water they get, how much hydration they get, so we can dictate how fast they grow and how they bud and everything about the health of the plant,” said Jason Erkes, Cresco Labs’ chief communications officer.
Regulations are strict at the 50,000-square-foot facility.
“The regulations in Kentucky and the regulations in Ohio are very similar. If we picked up this facility and moved it across state lines, probably 90% of the compliance measures in place would be appropriate for Kentucky. So what you see here today is very similar to the way regulated cannabis will be in Kentucky,” said Erkes.
Erkes says teams monitor the plants from seed to store shelf. Joe Chek runs their Ohio facility.
“They’re just cuttings from a mother plant, and after a couple weeks, we start to see root development on the bottom of the plant,” said Chek. “You start to see those come through there. It’s looking nice and healthy. Once they live in this tray for two weeks, we transfer them to the larger lots.”
Cresco has 13 facilities in eight states. They’re about to add a ninth state. Records from the Kentucky Office of Medical Cannabis show Cresco Labs’ CEO took over ownership of a Tier III cultivator license late last month and moved the location of that license from Barren County, to a warehouse in Clark County.
“The way regulated cannabis works is state by state, so there’s four walls around every state we operate in as there will be in Kentucky, where the product has to be grown manufactured, tested, distributed, and consumed in the four walls of the state for federal law,” said Erkes.
Cresco hasn’t formally announced a move. When they do, it’ll take several months for Kentucky grown product to be ready for Kentucky consumers.
Cresco says it takes about 13 weeks to get their plants from seed to store shelf.
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