Truelieve, Marietta’s  cannabis dispensary, expands offerings

Local medical cannabis dispensary, Truelieve, has added a new fast-acting product to its lineup. The Marietta store is debuting a nasal spray that delivers its legal, low-THC cannabis product quickly into patients’ bloodstreams. 

The new products join Trulieve’s other offerings — tinctures (liquid extract), capsules, a topical lotion, and hardened tincture drops.

Trueliever is one of only two licensees in the state authorized to sell low-THC cannabis oil, which contains no more than 5% of the psychoactive substance in the cannabis plant, to patients with a range of diseases.

Diseases that qualify patients for cannabis oil include end stage cancer, seizure disorders, AIDS, post-traumatic stress disorder, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, sickle-cell anemia, autism, and Alzheimer’s disease.Said Trulieve’s Cody Moungkhoune on the latest offering, “We have a lot of people that need instant relief, and that comes from absorbing it through your lungs. Absorbing anything through your lungs is going to be one of the fastest ways to get it into your bloodstream.”

Comparing it to inhalers used by people with asthma, Moungkhoune said the spray will offer a quick delivery method which will be particularly useful and beneficial to people with epilepsy and severe Parkinson’s disease

Florida-based Trulieve Cannabis Corp. opened two dispensaries in the state — one in Marietta, and the other in Macon. The company makes different types of nasal spray with the cannabis subspecies indica and sativa, with each producing different effects. There’s also a hybrid option.

The company sells products on-site and offers online ordering with in-store pickup. They’re hoping to add a home delivery option soon.

In 2015, the Georgia General Assembly first legalized the possession of medical cannabis oil, but failed to provide patients with a legal way to obtain the drug. This forced adult patients and parents of ailing children to travel out of state for years to get the oil or buy it illegally in Georgia.

In 2019, the state passed a bill setting up a licensing process for companies to grow marijuana indoors under close supervision, process the crop into cannabis oil, and sell the product to patients with a doctor’s prescription who signed up for a state-run registry.