TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) -- In July, Tallahassee became the first city in Florida to open a medical cannabis dispensary.
This comes more than a year after the state legalized cannabis for specific medical treatments.
The Tallahassee dispensary called Trulieve provides products state-wide but harvests the cannabis in Gadsden County.
The company is one of just a handful of authorized nurseries in Florida to grow and produce medical cannabis.
The journey to become Florida's first medical cannabis dispensary started several months ago, when Hackney Nursery was tapped as the state's authorized "Northwest" provider.
The nursery got right to work in a secret location in Quincy, where thousands of cannabis plants are grown.
"We're getting calls on a daily basis, and we're helping patients every single day," said Trulieve COO Jason Pernell.
In Tallahassee, the dispensary puts out products using cannabis extract -- from capsules to droplets to vaporizers.
"We're on the cusp of a new era in the state of Florida and for the cannabis industry nationwide," said Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers. "Florida is one of the largest states in the country, so I think that this really is a game-changer and a tilting point for the national conversation."
It's a conversation George Hackney wanted to start. The president of Hackney Nursery said getting this treatment to those with conditions like epilepsy is critical.
"These children have seizures - some of them as many as 100 a day, and just to talk to their parents, their life is miserable, and this helps reduce the number of seizures they have," Hackney said.
To provide the best relief, the company controls exactly how the plants are produced.
"We grow 100 percent indoors," Pernell said. "We control the lighting, temperature, the humidity, the CO2 (carbon dioxide) levels -- even the watering and the nutrients the plants get."
Cultivating the plants is highly regulated, and so is the screening process for anyone who comes into contact with them. Lab coats are required for employees and visitors, protecting the plants from being introduced to outside bugs and bacteria.
"We're reproducing the optimal environment the plants need to grow to maximize their flower production," Pernell said.
The plants are divided in more than a dozen different rooms and go through specific grow cycles -- all in an effort to create the purest and most potent form of a chemical compound called cannabinoids.
"We're growing the plants for an extraction process to infuse into medical devices, whether it be an oral syringe, a capsule, a tincture or a vaporizer," Pernell said.
Inititally, the state has authorized only "low-THC" cannabis, which means the dosage isn't strong enough to get a patient high. However, Trulieve expects Florida to allow for stronger forms, given to those with terminal illnesses.
The November 2016 ballot includes "Amendment 2," a measure that would expand cannabis treatment to patients with "debilitating medical conditions" -- including cancer, HIV, AIDS, PTSD, and multiple sclerosis.
