BYRAM, Miss. (WLBT) – More than two years after Initiative 65 was passed by the state, a Mississippi group is leading the charge in cannabis cultivation and processing.
We showed you the grand opening ceremony for River Remedy in Byram last week. Medical marijuana is not only cultivated and processed; it’s also dispensed all under one roof. Here’s a look at what the process looks like.
In Mississippi’s only Seed to Sale Medical Marijuana facility, CEO William Chism says there’s a 10-step process before a customer can get a product from their dispensary.
“Starts off on a mother plant; we cut clones. It spends two weeks in a clone room, four weeks in a veg room, and it moves onto a floor where it spends eight to nine weeks depending on the strain.”
After several weeks of growing from a clone to a fully flowering plant and tagging the plant, employees harvest and hang them to dry until they have 10% of their moisture left.
“These plants were actually harvested last week, and they will spend 10 to 15 days in here. What we’ll do is take these stems, break them off, put them in totes, and begin the curing process. That’s a lower and slower drying process that will take a B+ product to an A.”
Once dried and cured, the bucking process will begin, where flowers will be trimmed and sorted into several categories: A Flower, B Flower, Trim and Stems.
After bins are filled, state-required testing will begin so that flowers are clean and up to state standards.
“Look at our test results. You don’t see any traces of heavy metals, micro-toxins, pesticides and any of that stuff, and that’s because our team takes great care and attention to the nutrients.”
After being tested by a third party, flowers are either packaged and sold as is or taken to have THC extracted to turn into gummies, oils and other products.
Finally, each product will be linked to its original growing tag that allows the state to track each flower from seed to sale.
“It takes a little bit of time for it to go from a clone all the way to harvest on the shelves, but really helpful for us to have that data and that feedback in real-time.”
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