Sierra Wellness Connection, Carson City’s second medical marijuana dispensary opens

Carson City’s second medical marijuana dispensary opened Monday.

Locally-owned cannabis medical dispensaries and cultivation facilities, Sierra Wellness Connection, opened Monday at 2765 US Highway 50 East, Suite A, Carson City, capping the limit allowed within the city for two dispensary locations.

Sierra Wellness Connection opened its first location in 2015 in Reno.

The second location will serve residents of Carson City, Gardnerville, Minden, Dayton, Yerington, Mound House and others.

“It was important for us to assess what we learned in our first year before expanding to Carson City,” said Andrew Koetting, manager of Sierra Wellness Connection Carson City. “Our primary goal was to create an environment where patients with varying degrees of cannabis knowledge would feel welcome. We have seen the demographic spectrum of patients expand dramatically in the last 14 months and adjusted accordingly. With the opening of our new facility, we’ll continue to provide the highest quality product to improve our patients’ lives.”

While the impacts of the passing of Question 2 legalizing recreational cannabis for adult use will not take effect until sometime in 2017, Sierra Wellness CEO Fernando Leal states, “This Company was founded to serve the medical community. We remain committed to delivering the highest quality care for our patients and are well positioned to serve the adult recreational user if we are fortunate enough to be selected to do so. Being first to market inherently comes with challenges. However, we feel that the benefits in this case have provided us with the knowledge to continue to improve the patient experience and all aspects of our operations. We are grateful to be in Carson City and are committed to being a good neighbor of this outstanding community.”

The Carson dispensary is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week. The company also has provisional licenses to cultivate and produce cannabis products in Carson City that it plans to activate in the coming months.

For more information, visit online at SierraWell.com.

Carson City’s first dispensary, RISE on Clearview Drive, opened in September.

Two medical marijuana cultivation facilities, 5 Seat Investments’ plant on Highway 50 East and Tahoe Hydroponics on Arrowhead Drive, are also operating.

The city has issued special use permits for a total of six cultivation facilities and four production operations as well as the two open dispensaries.

Now that the recreational marijuana ballot question passed, medical marijuana suppliers throughout the state have 18 months to apply for the needed license to do business in that market as well.