Marijuana product production in high gear as Md. recreational legalization approaches
Curious About Cannabis: Part 2
MARYLAND – When you think about consuming cannabis, smoking marijuana is probably the image that comes to mind. However, the folks at Curio Wellness say that the idea that cannabis is just a smoker’s game is totally incorrect.
In High Gear
The Curio Wellness cannabis product processing facility is in high gear as Marylanders 21 years old and up will soon be able to legally consume marijuana. 47 ABC WMDT visited the facility outside of Baltimore as production was in full swing.
“It’s just been very busy,” said Vice President of Supply Chain, Pam Davis. “We’ve known that this is coming since November of last year. Now that we’re closer, there’s more and more pressure to make sure we just have enough products in our vault to support all of our dispensaries. That’s kind of our focus. We feel like we cannot have enough product right now.”
Mechanizing Marijuana
We started in the extraction room. It’s where the oil that’s used in all things vapeable, edible, or topical comes from. “This is the room where we extract THC and terpenes from the product,” said Davis. “So, we grind [the flower] down, heat it up, and then we put it over in our extraction equipment.”
Then, the tour moved onto a room filled with the loud hum of special machinery; a pre-roll machine. Davis explains that in the past, all of Curio’s pre-rolls were made by hand. Now, it’s done by a robot, capable of churning out as many as 6,000 pre-rolls per day.
However, on this tour, the assembly line at the facility was consumed with churning out chewables. Davis says up to 65% of the products they make are those. “We’ve just got so much, because we’re trying to get ready for adult use,” she said.
First, the recipe is measured out, and then it’s mixed. The liquid candy then pours out of the machine into a receptacle, and separated into molds. The product then cures for between two and 24 hours.
“We used to do all of this manually. So, the amount of productivity that we can get through this automated deposit is probably about five or six times what we were able to do,” said Davis. “We have thousands of cases in work in progress right now that I need to get packed out, and into our vault… Until we get our automated packaging equipment, it’s hard for the pack out line to keep up with the production.”
Leave It To The Experts
Even if you’re an experienced confectioner yourself, don’t be tempted to whip them up at home. Curio’s facility is certified by Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulations enforced by the FDA. And, the edibles are repeatedly tested for potency and safety before they’re put out to market.
“We are producing the highest quality product for our patients,” said Davis. “The state is tracking us from seed to sale, and we want to make sure that every step on that process, we’re producing the highest quality product; the potency is right, the terpenes are right, the THC levels are right, there are no issues with the product. We are talking about medicine for people.”
Davis, with more than two decades in the manufacturing sector under her belt, says even she was surprised to see how exhaustive and obsessive Curio is with ensuring safety and quality. She says it’s all because it has to be that way.
“I think people’s perceptions is what they see on television. So, they think it’s a guy growing pot in the basement or something like that,” said Davis. “But, really, it’s a very sophisticated operation. And, the one thing that attracted me to Curio was just the standards. You walk into this place, it feels more like a pharmacy, or like a medical facility; not just like somebody who’s growing marijuana.”
Pressure Is On
And, as legalization day approaches, Davis says the pressure of producing enough products is on.
“We’re talking about in the Maryland market, we have about 160,000 patients,” said Davis. “Come July 1st, that’s going to go to about 4.5 million people that are over the age of 21 that are able to consume our products.”
Our series on all you need to know about recreational marijuana doesn’t stop here. Thursday, we’ll wrap up with part three, covering what you can expect when you purchase cannabis products at a dispensary.
