Marijuana dispensary Beyond / Hello to expand to Woodbridge, Fairfax

Medical marijuana dispensary Beyond / Hello, located outside Manassas, will expand to other Northern Virginia neighborhoods.

The chain, owned by the Florida-based wellness company Jushi, has opened a new location in Sterling and will soon open locations in Woodbridge, Arlington, and Fairfax, according to Jushi’s Chief Commercial Director Trent Woloveck.

Since opening its first dispensary at 8100 Albertstone Circle, just off Balls Ford Road outside Manassas, Beyond / Hello’s customer base has grown from an initial 5,000 patients to nearly 50,000. The dispensary guidelines set by local authorities and those set by the Center for Disease Control due to the coronavirus.

The Prince William County location uses its two-story, 45,000 square-foot-print not just for the sale of cannabis from state-approved vendors such as Columbia Care and Green Thumb Industries, but also to grow marijuana. However, the new stores will act as satellite locations that will receive their stock from the Prince William hub, allowing the new stores to be smaller in size.

Beyond / Hello opened its doors in December 2020 after a trio of medical marijuana bills were signed into law in July 2019. Outgoing Governor Ralph Northam expanded the use of cannabis for many other medical treatments beyond epilepsy, paving the way for Beyond / Hello to enter the state and sell marijuana to those who have a doctor’s prescription.

While recreational marijuana became legal in July 2021, the procurement of the substance is still considered illegal under Virginia Law until 2024. Then, the commonwealth’s newly established Cannabis Control Authority hopes to establish an infrastructure similar to the state’s Alcohol Beverage Control Authority.

Until then, dispensaries like Beyond / Hello are relying on getting the operating licenses based on laws approved by Northam, including Senate Bill 976 that allows for expanding the state’s medical program by adding new licenses for cannabis dispensaries.

The current law allows for the sale of cannabis to those 21 and over for recreational use. Woloveck and Jushi’s employees not only sell the substance to those in need of it for medical purposes but seek to educate about the drug as well.

“Our responsibility is to look at the effects that cannabis has on folks. I came out of Colorado and saw it grow there. There’s plenty of education and training required to sell it that we have to tell our patients,” said Woloveck.

In addition to Virginia, Beyond Hello has dispensaries in states such as Pennsylvania, Illinois, California, and Massachusetts, with corporate offices in Denver, and Palm Beach, Fla.