The City of Moab will receive its first medical cannabis pharmacy following a vote by the Medical Cannabis Establishment Licensing Board meeting on Dec. 4.

There were five contenders; two applications for Moab, two for Richfield and one for Vernal. Boojum Group, a cannabis processing and manufacturing company currently based in Heber, was chosen. The company is co-founded by Dashiel Kulander, who grew up in Moab and has long sought to open a pharmacy here.

The license had to go to a federally medically underserved area in a third- through sixth-class county — Utah’s smaller, rural counties with populations under 65,000 — and comes with reduced state licensing fees for pharmacies in those rural areas. Grand is a class 5 county. 

Cody James, deputy director of specialized product divisions at the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, said in the meeting the only medical cannabis pharmacies in Southern Utah are in Price, Cedar City and St. George. 

“Everything else is going to be further north and along the I-15 corridor for the most part, with the exception of one in Logan,” James said. “So really these five locations listed, two in Richfield, two in Moab and one in Vernal, are very much separate and in different regions from those other currently licensed pharmacies.”

The closest pharmacy to Moab is in Price, which is approximately two hours away.

James noted the population density decreases in southern parts of the state, with the exceptions of the three towns who applied for a medical cannabis pharmacy.

Utah has nearly 88,000 patients with medical cannabis cards, and despite the dip in population in southern Utah, James speculated awarding a pharmacy to one of the three towns will increase the Beehive State’s medical cannabis patient population.

“These areas currently, right now, probably don’t have the hugest or the largest amount of patients,” James said. “But as we’ve seen in Price, once a pharmacy began, those numbers did start to trend upward.”

Board Member Miles Maynes reiterated the purpose to open a new medical cannabis pharmacy in a rural area. “I believe it’s my charge as a member of this board to select a license that will be one of [three] things. One, recognize the intent of House Bill 54. Two, stabilize the cannabis industry in Utah. Three, employ rural Utahns or demonstrate an understanding of the patients in Utah,” Maynes said.

Maynes then motioned to award the Boojum Group the medical cannabis pharmacy license. 

Board Member Susan Spiers praised the Boojum Group for understanding the Moab community and the intent of HB54. The board unanimously approved awarding the Boojum Group the license, with one member abstaining from the vote. 

At the Nov. 13 meeting, where the decision was initially tabled, Commission Chair Bill Winfield spoke in support of Kulander.

“I think it’s extremely important that we do support our local businesses here … there’s been a move well, I know that there has [been] within Grand County, to move our economy a little bit away from tourism to some diversification. And we see this as an opportunity to help with that.”

Winfield added Moab has a “large workforce” that’s willing to support the Boojum Group. He also acknowledged the residents who drive to Colorado for cannabis, and how “huge” it would be to see a local dispensary in Moab. 

Bega Metzner, director of the Moab to Monument Valley Film Commission, also voiced support of the Boojum Group at the Nov. 13 meeting. 

“I think that the county loses a lot of people, not just [to] out of state, but out of county, generally speaking,” Metzner said. “And to be able to bring a business like this is not only going to bring very important economic development to this area, job creation, but it’ll also bring some really important medical cannabis to the people that need it here.”

Note to readers • Lizzie Ramirez is a Report for America corps member covering local government and tourism in Grand County for The Times-Independent. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories. Please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by clicking here.