GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — On Thursday, Grand Haven held a lottery for the opportunity to apply for a dispensary license.

“We’re excited to see what we can make happen with this,” says Rebecca Neil, owner of Paradigm Wellness.

A wellness practitioner, she believes the opportunity to bring medical marijuana to Grand Haven is an exciting one.

“I see this as a phenomenal opportunity to showcase what this looks like as medicine,” she says.

The lottery process was simple. The names of six locations went into a box, and the first four to come out now get to apply for a license.

Greg Maki, owner of Agri Med in Muskegon, had his location picked first.

“Grand Haven is a great town,” says Maki. “We have three stores open already, mostly in West Michigan, and this is a community we knew we wanted to be in.”

Each of the six locations in the lottery had a Grand Haven resident on the application. The city feels this is an exciting opportunity to promote local growth.

“We’re looking forward to moving forward with these applicants,” says community development manager Jennifer Howland. “It’s been a long process for many of them and we’re excited to have a new business in town. The community is asking for it and we’re happy to provide that for them.”

Neil, who’s location was pulled out second from the box, believes the city will benefit from having dispensaries.

“I feel everybody has the right to experience or consider other options for quality of health,” says Neil.

For the two locations that were selected fifth and sixth, they will have an opportunity to apply for a permit if any of the first four do not go through.

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