The first medical marijuana dispensary in Lower Bucks County will start serving patients next week, opening its doors about eight months after getting its approval from Bristol Township to set up shop.

Beyond/Hello will open its dispensary at 2412 Durham Road in a small shopping center at the intersection with New Falls Road. It will offer medical marijuana pills, concentrates and other forms allowed by state law regularly Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The dispensary is set to open Friday, May 11 at 10 a.m.

“Patients will now be able to access life-changing treatments in a cutting edge dispensary that offers a discreet, safe and understanding environment,” Beyond’s president, Blythe Huestis, said in a news release from the company.

The dispensary will be open in two side-by-side vacant storefronts, which formerly housed a hookah lounge.

[This article was published in Jan, 2017.]

Because Newtown Township is part of a joint municipal zoning consortium with neighboring Upper Makefield and Wrightstown townships (JMZO), any zoning ordinances regulating the location of the cannabis operations must be approved by all three municipalities, collectively known as the “jointure.”

At the Jan. 11 Newtown supervisors meeting, township solicitor Jeffrey Garton briefed the board on the Jan. 5 joint zoning council meeting, which he attended, and the lengthy discussions over the state’s medical marijuana law which was signed by Gov. Tom Wolf in April 2016.

“We need to proceed on how to zone for medical marijuana,” he said. “Under the act, dispensaries and growing facilities have to be treated the same way as other similar uses in the zoning ordinances, but you can regulate it.

“In Pennsylvania, there are restrictions on growing,” added township manager Kurt Ferguson, who said that it can be grown “hydroponically,” which is in chemically-treated water.

“It also cannot be smoked,” he added. “It will be sold in little strips.”

The new state law only allows edible forms of marijuana and vaporization to be dispensed; smoking is not permitted.

Ferguson also told the board that he and assistant township manager Micah Lewis are planning to attend a half-day seminar on Feb. 1 sponsored by Lafayette College in Easton.

According to the township manager, the conference will have speakers from surrounding states that already have medical marijuana laws in place and discuss the issue from a zoning perspective.

“There will also be a medical marijuana grower who will talk about what kind of facilities they look for and what land,” Ferguson said. “We’ll gather all of that [information] and provide it to the board [of supervisors] and the jointure.”