IONIA — Medical marijuana is now available in Ionia for patients following Monday’s grand opening of ArCanna.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for ArCanna, 29 Beardsley Rd., in Ionia, took place June 29. After the short ceremony, those in attendance were invited to tour the facility.

ArCanna, a medical marijuana provisioning center, is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. There are 15 employees.

Co-founder David Bye thanked the city of Ionia and community for their support.

“They’ve been beyond warm and welcoming to us,” Bye said. “We couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

Bye founded ArCanna along with Nicholas Nover and Dean St. Peter. Bye said he was “stoked” to start the business and thought there was a great turnout for Monday’s ribbon-cutting.

“We understand with the (COVID-19) pandemic there’s a lot of people that don’t want to get out,” Bye said. “We’ve had so many people call and so many people who’ve stopped in already.”

Ionia Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Kat Reed hosted the ribbon-cutting, while Ionia Downtown Development Authority Director Linda Curtis presented ArCanna with a certificate.

Bye described medical marijuana as “an industry that’s had a few eyes on us.” He thought Michigan marijuana laws within the last two years were stable enough to allow ArCanna to enter the market and feel safe.

“I think people understand now that marijuana is not the evil thing that’s always been portrayed by a lot of people,” Bye said. “They’re seeing a lot of medicinal benefits and recreational benefits.”

Bye hopes the Ionia City Council passes an ordinance to allow recreational marijuana businesses so ArCanna can expand.

Safe Ionia recently launched a campaign to put a proposal on the ballot in the November election to allow recreational marijuana businesses in the city.

“Under our business model, adult use is a great key portion of it,” Bye said.

— Contact reporter Evan Sasiela at esasiela@sentinel-standard.com. Follow him on Twitter @SalsaEvan.