GTI Maryland sues Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission for removing pre- approval of GTI’s Grower License
This is all over the recent pre-approval announcement naming the 15 companies moving on to the next step in the application process to grow cannabis in the state.
Those filing the lawsuit say they were illegally taken off the list.
Green Thumb Industries Maryland out of Hagerstown wants to achieve 2 things with their lawsuit against the Maryland Medical Marijuana Commission. First, they want the commission to admit that what they did to the company was illegal and improper. Second, they want the commission to put GTI Maryland back in the running as a potential marijuana grower in the state.
“For me the results were very disappointing we thought that we put forward a very very credible application,” said Sterling Crocker, GTI’s business manager.
GTI claims it was one of 15 applicants rated as the top picks to receive pre-approval for opening cannabis grower operations in the state. This was based on an objective; double-blind evaluation, conducted by Towson University’s Regional Economic Studies Institute.
However, when the list was released, two groups; Shore Naturals RX out of Worcester County and Holistic Industries out of Prince Georges County, had replaced GTI and Maryland Cultivation and Growing. GTI believes this rearranging was unlawful.
In the suit that was filed Tuesday in Baltimore Circuit Court, the company calls the commission’s decision-making process “illogical and fatally flawed” arguing that the contracts are worth tens of millions of dollars and the outcome of being pulled from the list is devastating for the company.
The commissioners argue that the reason GTI didn’t make the list was geographic diversity. Had the commission licensed the 15 highest ranked growers, there would have been no cultivators in the lower Eastern Shore — and none south of Anne Arundel County.
“We’re not manufacturing widgets,” said Crockett. ” I mean this is very very important medication and it’s kind of perplexing how this issue of geographic diversity, which the commission said on it’s own website that it would not be a consideration for pre-approvals and whatever took place in that 48 hours, it became the deciding factor”
Green Thumb Industry officials believe it will be 30-45 days until their complaint reaches the court but they are hopeful that the commissioners will change their mind before then. 47 ABC reached out to the commission for comment but as of Wednesday night, no response. GTI tells us they are a national company and plan to pursue licenses in other areas.
