RICHMOND, Va. — Looking to take his business portfolio to new heights, a prominent local real estate developer is backing an effort to bring one of the state’s first medical cannabis dispensaries to Richmond.
Fountainhead Properties’ Tom Papa said he’s working with a group that’s vying for one of the five licenses the state’s Board of Pharmacy will grant allowing for medical cannabinol (CBD) oil dispensaries to be established in each of the commonwealth’s five health service areas.
The operation, if approved, would be “somewhere in south Richmond,” Papa said, without disclosing a specific location or amount of investment.
“My hope is to bring it to a part of Richmond where it results in high-paying jobs, and meets the demand of people who really need this product in their day-to-day lives,” Papa said. “We think it will be a very good fit.”
Should it win the license, the group Papa is involved with would be the lone cannabis oil dispensary in Health Service Area 4, which encompasses 27 counties and six cities, including Henrico, Chesterfield and Hanover counties; and the cities of Richmond, Petersburg, Hopewell and Colonial Heights.