(Salt Lake City, UT) – The Utah Department of Health (UDOH) today issued a request for proposals (RFP) seeking applicants to operate medical cannabis pharmacies in the state. The UDOH will evaluate proposals based on criteria established in the RFP and the Medical Cannabis Act.
The UDOH will issue licenses to 14 medical cannabis pharmacies. The effective dates of the licenses will be divided into two categories; eight pharmacies will be eligible to open as early as March 1, 2020, and the remaining six pharmacies can open as early as July 1, 2020.
“This is another significant milestone for Utah’s medical cannabis program,” said Rich Oborn, director of the UDOH Center for Medical Cannabis. “We have been working closely with potential applicants over the past several months to develop the framework of this RFP, and I expect there will be dozens of interested applicants that submit proposals.”
Licenses will be divided among four geographic regions to ensure statewide access to medical cannabis for patients. No applicant will be permitted to operate more than two total medical cannabis pharmacies, although there is no limit to how many proposals an applicant may submit.
Applicants will be required to pay a $2,500 fee for each application they submit. Those applicants who are selected to receive a medical cannabis pharmacy license will pay an additional annual fee of $50,000-$69,500 depending upon the type of license they receive and the physical location of the pharmacy.
The deadline for submitting applications is Monday, December 2, 2019. The UDOH will announce which applicants will receive the 14 licenses in late December.
# # #
Media Contact
Tom Hudachko
Utah Department of Health
(o) 801.538.6232
(m) 801.560.4649