Medical marijuana market sees growth in St. Augustine

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – When you think of St. Augustine, images of old streets, fine restaurants, and history come to mind.

Medical marijuana probably not, but there is a growing demand for it.

There will be three pharmacies just two miles away on US 1 when the third opens this weekend.

“I think there is a lot of demand for it here in St. Augustine,” said John Tipton. He is the president of Verano, the company that owns MUV.

MUV is a medical cannabis cultivation and pharmacy company.

“It’s sure to be a growing industry,” said Tipton.

But can this small town of 12 square miles supply enough customers for three pharmacies? Tipton said the MUV stores in Jacksonville and Jacksonville Beach continue to drive customers up from St. Augustine.

A medical marijuana patient told First Coast News that other pharmacies in town are often running out of supplies.

Another medical marijuana patient said it was good to have a wider variety of products to choose from in St. Augustine.

Tipton also noted that the demand for medical marijuana in St. Augustine may have something to do with the number of tourists coming from other parts of Florida.

“Although St. Augustine’s population is not very large, there are many people in Florida who have medical cards, who are visiting St. Augustine and in need of their medicine,” Tipton said.

“We are not allowed to do traditional marketing. We are not allowed to have billboards, radio advertisements or television advertisements,” said Zack Swan. He is Marketing and Sales Director for MUV.

When the last pharmacy, Columbia Care, opened in St. Augustine a few years ago, they weren’t allowed to post anything on their traffic signs that indicated medical marijuana. Now it does. The first pharmacy, Trulieve, doesn’t have a sign yet that you can see on the street mentioning marijuana. However, there are signs on the windows that say medical marijuana.

The MUV sign reads “Cannabis Pharmacy”.

Swan stated, “It’s part of the way we are registered with the state. So if we put our name on something, it has to have that description on it. So we have to be MUV Medical Cannabis Dispensary.”

Overall, Florida has seen an increase of at least 170,000 new medical marijuana patients in the past year, according to the state.

MUV alone will double the number of its stores in Duval County from two to four this year. As for St. Augustine, the company wants a slice of the city’s medicinal marijuana cake.