When it comes to medical marijuana, relief can take many forms

Spring 2019 Print Article

As Pennsylvania’s 100,000 marijuana patients head to their local dispensaries, growing demand has emerged for live and dry concentrates, says Brandon Miller, Director of Production for Prime Wellness of Pennsylvania.

“Whether you’re using distillate or THCa crystals or wax, they all have nuances in the effects,” Miller says, from the company’s 30,000-square-foot grow/processing facility in Berks County. “I think it really gives patients the most versatility to find an option that’s going to relieve their symptoms.”

Prime Wellness’ prime line of flower products has some new company, in the form of shatter, budder and wax, diamonds, crystals and sauce, live resin and other medical marijuana concentrates — all produced in a new, state-of-the-art Butane Lab. The expansion into concentrates gives patients a wide array of products to fit their medical needs. The pure THCa diamonds and terpene-packed sauce help patients titrate their dosing to alleviate their daily symptoms, Miller says. The new line of shatters and waxes offers the cannabis connoisseur a flavorful experience they can’t get elsewhere.

During the extraction process, the production team targets the THCa and terpenes while leaving the undesirable parts of the plant behind. “From our standpoint, making a more efficacious product is a big advantage,” Miller says. “Our new concentrate form allows us to showcase the diversity of our products. We have many common lines containing popular strains such as Blueberry and OG Kush. We also have other strains that aren’t as common from all over the world.”

The foundation for any premium extract begins with the cultivation process, says Trevin George, Extraction Manager for Prime Wellness of Pennsylvania. “Brandon makes my job very easy because our material is really good,” George says. “There’s a huge difference between good material and bad material, what it smells like, what it looks like, what it tastes like.”

For patients familiar with the prime line of flower, the new concentrates offer another avenue for treatment in the strains they already know and love. “People can vaporize the flower and then have the exact same concentrate,” George says. “You can literally go buy both if you wanted to compare them. I’ve never been in a market where you can actually do that.”

From a medicinal perspective, concentrates offer an excellent option, particularly for experienced cannabis patients, says Dr. Corey Burchman, Chief Medical Officer for Acreage Holdings, Prime Wellness’ New York City-based parent company. “Patients using concentrates, through vaporization, in particular, will consume far less (in terms of weight in grams) and have a more rapid onset of effects,” Dr. Burchman says.

The move into extracts highlights Prime Wellness’ commitment to product development. When it comes to concentrates, there’s plenty more to come from the company. “We can enhance the profiles of terpenes in addition to pushing CBD/THC concentrations higher, with the thought being that certain pharmacological effects can be obtained,” Dr. Burchman says. “This is what drug development is all about.”