MinnMed's New Year's Resolution: Double the Number of Cannabis Patient Centers in 2020

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Minnesota Medical Solutions ("MinnMed" or "the Company"), one of two licensed medical cannabis companies in the State of Minnesota, welcomed the new regulations unveiled by the Minnesota Department of Health ("MDH") Office of Medical Cannabis ("OMC") expanding the State's medical cannabis program.

In 2015, MinnMed opened its first four Cannabis Patients Centers ("CPCs") located in Bloomington, Minneapolis, Moorhead and Rochester. Next year, thanks to the new regulations, the Company will open four new locations, currently planned for Blaine, Burnsville, Duluth, and Woodbury.

"The newly announced medical cannabis program regulation updates will positively impact the lives of thousands of Minnesotans," said MinnMed Deputy CEO Gary Starr, M.D. "Doubling the overall number of Cannabis Patient Centers will make it easier for patients, especially those living far from current facilities, to learn about and purchase safe, tested medical cannabis products."  

The new regulations also expand the list of qualifying conditions to include chronic pain and age-related macular degeneration, as of July 1, 2020. In 2015, intractable pain, a subset of "chronic pain", was added to the list of qualifying conditions which led to a material increase in the number of approved patient enrollments in the state's medical cannabis program, which as of November 21, 2019 totaled 30,414 people.

"As an emergency medicine physician, I witnessed firsthand the consequences of the opioid epidemic," said Founder Kyle Kingsley, M.D. "The inclusion of chronic pain as a qualifying condition will help pave the way for even more patients to replace highly addictive prescription opioid pain medications such as fentanyl, oxycodone, morphine, hydromorphone and  as well as illicit, related street drugs like heroin with safer, regulated medical cannabis therapies."

Additional regulations allow for the manufacturing of two new product categories which will enable MinnMed to create new and innovative dose-able products featuring water soluble cannabis-based powders and dissolvable cannabis tablets, which will be available to patients in 2020.

About Minnesota Medical Solutions
Minnesota Medical Solutions ("MinnMed") is one of two licensed medical cannabis companies in Minnesota. MinnMed operates four Cannabis Patient Centers across the state and a greenhouse facility near Ostego, MN. MinnMed is a subsidiary of Vireo Health International, Inc. ("Vireo"). Vireo's mission is to build the cannabis company of the future by bringing the best of medicine, engineering and science to the cannabis industry.  Vireo's physician-led team of more than 400 employees provides best-in-class cannabis products and customer experience. For more information about MinnMed, please visit www.minnmed.com.  

Contact Information

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Albe Zakes
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(267) 221-4800          

SOURCE Minnesota Medical Solutions