Westmoreland County businessman looking to benefit from medical marijuana market

WESTMORELAND COUNTY, Pa. — In the wake of the legalization of medical marijuana in Pennsylvania, a Westmoreland County businessman is preparing to take advantage of the new market.

Rodney Yemc, of PA Cultivation Group, will be applying for one of the state’s first grower-processor licenses.

“To be a pioneer in a new market is really what I think I’m looking to do,” Yemc said.

Medical marijuana was legalized last month by Gov. Tom Wolf. Once growers and dispensaries are up and running, patients will be able to take the drug in pill, oil, vapor or liquid form.

Yemc and his company are prepping a warehouse in Irwin to grow thousands of medical marijuana plants.

“Our first initial grow here would be for about 3,000 plants,” Yemc said. “We would grow, extract the oils from the plant, and from those oils, make PA-legal forms of cannabis.”

Yemc’s company also plans to apply for one of five combination licenses so that it can sell the medical marijuana at its own locations.

“The initial setup of the company is get a growing and extraction license and a dispensary license so that we can have a complete vertical operation,” Yemc said.

The applications will not be available until sometime next year and, if approved, Yemc said it will take at least $6 million to $7 million to get the company running.

In the meantime, Yemc is working with lawyers, lobbyists and two Colorado-based technology companies.

Cox Media Group