Keenan Blum would love to scale up his business. It has ample space to expand at its Peterborough location, and he could push out more products like Banana Bluntz flowers and Blueberry Fruit Chews at lower prices.
As one of three companies licensed to grow, make and sell medical cannabis in New Hampshire, however, GraniteLeaf Cannabis must navigate a limited customer base and a smorgasbord of regulatory requirements. It's part of the state's Therapeutic Cannabis Program, which is the only way to legally obtain cannabis in New Hampshire and requires people to get certified by a medical provider to receive the plant and derived products as treatment for qualifying conditions.
Industry leaders estimate the state has about 15,000 certified patients in the program. GraniteLeaf serves about 5,000 customers in the southern tier of the state through its dispensaries in Chichester and Merrimack. Five more dispensaries are run by two other alternative treatment centers in other parts of the state.
"It's kind of just an odd scale to be at, but we want to make everything because we're, well, the only source in our region," said Blum, GraniteLeaf's president and CEO.
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