It will likely take a year or more for two of Iowa’s five medical cannabis dispensaries to re-open. Dispensaries in Council Bluffs and Davenport closed without notice on March 30.
Owen Parker manages the office of medical CBD for the Iowa Department of Public Health. He said the facilities managed by the Have A Heart company are permanently closed.
"There’s no management agreement where transfers or anything like that that can be done. The licenses, once they’re closed, are rescinded. It just starts from scratch however many licenses need to be filled.” said Parker.
Parker said the re-licensing process will be lengthy, beginning with new applications.
“And then we will award the license to somebody which then is when they would move forward with their buildout," he said. "So from beginning to end you can’t really put an exact timetable on it. It’s easy to say a year or more in all reality.”
Parker said Have A Heart ignored the rules of its contract and failed to give six months’ notice. Parker said the application process will begin soon. In the meantime, patients will have to get their cannabidiol products from the remaining dispensaries in Sioux City, Waterloo or the Des Moines suburb of Windsor Heights.
