WHITE HALL, W.Va. – The Healing Center is a premier medical cannabis dispensary group that was founded in Western Pennsylvania, and now is looking to expand into North Central West Virginia.

The decision to expand into West Virginia was an idea founders had because of the similarities that parts of Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia have. The five locations they applied for to open a facility are as followed.

• 3 Tygart Mall Loop, Fairmont
• 2809 Pike Street, Parkersburg
• 335 Wayfarer Drive, Triadelphia
• 222 Park Drive, Weirton
• 370 Chaplin Hill Rd, Westover

The Healing Center strives to help all patients find the most effective medical marijuana treatment to increase their overall quality of life.

“Depending on the time and what your condition, all that all those factors play in. We try to get something that fits you best, and also avoiding all the intense narcotics,” said Co Founder Chris Kohon. “Your going to see everything that is in that plant, and your going to know exactly what they used when they grew it, and exactly what is in there currently now on all aspects of the profile.”

The process to get a prescription is a multistep procedure, involoving your local doctors, state doctors, and properly licensed pharmacist. The security is top notch and the locations in West Virginia will mirror the original facility in Pennsylvania.

All supplies at the West Virginia locations will be locally owned and operated within the Mountain State. Everything from the growing to positions in the healing center will allow the opportunity for an average of 20 new jobs per facility.

Aside from new jobs being provided, medical cannabis has shown to be an alternative for additive narcotics, which potentially could decrease the opioid epidemic across the state with what they call “Opioid Replacement Therapy.”

“Our goal is to lower them from their opioids slowly and replace them with cannabis. For example, somebody could be taking three OxyContin’s a day. What we might look to do, is start with them taking two a day and introduce cannabis to manage during the day. Then over time what we’re able to do is it goes from two down to one, and so on,” Kohon said.

White Hall officials support The Healing Center moving to their town for a number of reasons. Mayor John Michael said the number one reason they are behind it, is it could help the wellness and health of the people in West Virginia overall.

“There are a lot of people suffering in pain daily. They’re in pain, and this is just another non-addictive way to help the patient,” said Michael. “If The Healing Center wins the contract and they move into White Hall, it’s going to benefit people in this area. It will benefit their health, and it’s going to benefit the town financially. Most importantly the citizens and people of this area, have another option to treat life-changing medical conditions.”

The Healing Center also make it a definite point to give back to the communities in which their locations reside.

“We have provided 70 jobs in the state of Pennsylvania. We surpassed 23,000 patients we see and help with a 93% retention rate. We just made a large donation to a local food bank, so we got something going on and I look forward to bringing it to West Virginia, hopefully,” said Kohon. “We’re really engaged in our communities, which is the number one thing we want everybody to understand.”

White Hall officials hopes to hold a “Q&A” with owners of The Healing Center to allow community members to ask questions to get a better understanding of the process and facility. For more information about the center, visit their website, or call them at any current location.

Approval on locations should be done by the end of the summer.