One of the state’s eight licensed medical marijuana dispensaries says it plans to begin selling its products by early next year.

Maui Wellness Group LLC spokeswoman Teri Freitas Gorman said the business is in its final phase of permitting and will begin cultivating as soon as it receives final approval by the state Department of Health. She said she’s not sure when that will happen, the Maui News reported Wednesday.

“We are ready to begin cultivation, and we have been ready for quite some time,” Freitas Gorman said Tuesday.

The business led by Dr. Gregory Park has 11 employees but plans to have as many as 30 when cultivation begins to handle processing, packaging, selling and security.

The group will grow marijuana on about 7 acres of privately owned agricultural land in central Maui and plans to sell cannabis flowers first before eventually offering salves, lotions, oils and lozenges.

“A lot of our older patients in particular do not like to smoke, so we like to offer a lot of alternatives,” Freitas Gorman said. “Many of these applications that are topical have a zero psychoactive effect, so you can get relief without it.”

Park and David Cole, former president and CEO of Maui Land & Pineapple Co., formed the Maui business last year.

The state’s eight licensed dispensaries were allowed to open for business in July but none has made the move.

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Associated Press