Georgia Access

Aspire Is Excited To Apply For A Vertically Integrated License In Georgia. As One Of The Fastest-Growing State’s In The Country, Georgia Will Serve One Of The Southeast’s Largest Populations Of Medical Cannabis Patients. Providing The Highest Quality And Most Reliable Supply Of Medical-Grade, Low-THC Oil To Georgia Patients Is Our Core Purpose And Aspire Aims To Innovate Formulations That Are Specific To The Various Conditions That Can Be Treated Under Georgia Law So That Patients Are Able To Access A Variety Of Products That All Exceed Georgia’s Regulatory Standards.

TerrAscend is the first North American Operator (NAO) with scale operations in both Canada and the U.S. and providing quality products, brands, and services to the global cannabinoid market. As Apsire’s end-to-end operating partner, TerrAscend will serve as the vertically integrated cultivator and processor. The company operates several synergistic businesses, including Ilera, The Apothecarium, Arise Biosciences and TerrAscend NJ.

llera Healthcare, Pennsylvania’s premier medical marijuana cultivator, processor and dispenser.

Arise Bioscience Inc, a manufacturer and distributor of hemp derived products.

The Apothecarium, an award-winning cannabis dispensary with several retail locations in California.

Leadership Team

Our leadership is overwhelmingly Georgia-based and has a proven track record of trustworthiness and excellence in our home state. Our team leveraged decades of hands-on experience creating enterprises in highly regulated industries, learnings from navigating the rigor of regulation in many states and reputation of excellence with agencies like the FDA to establish Aspire’s culture of compliance and transparency. Simply put, for our team, there is no learning curve – we’ve done this before, many times. Our team includes:

CEO and Chairman of Arbor Pharma, the largest specialty pharmaceutical company in Georgia
Chairman of Terrascend, one of the largest and most respected cannabis companies in the United States
Two former Presidents of Georgia Bio, the state’s largest and most influential life sciences advocacy and business leadership group in the state
Experienced real estate professionals, responsible for over $1Bn of investments and development across the Southeast with a focus on healthcare and senior care
Leading social equity investment funds, including a $100mm fund dedicated to investment in minority cannabis companies
World class medical advisors, each with a legacy of delivering innovative medical technologies across the state, including rural Georgia
An award winning staffing firm and graduate of the Georgia’s Governor’s Mentor-Protégé Program
Founder of one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world
Former professional athletes, active player’s association members and community activists
Leaders in public safety, security and social justice
Letters of support have been received from several of Georgia’s most trusted institutions: Augusta University/MCG, Mercer’s College of Pharmacy, Georgia Bio, Technical College System of GA (via Atlanta Technical College), and Georgia Rural Health Association.

Our teammates bring deep, proven public policy experience, including:

Former Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Southeast Regional Administrator
Former Speaker of Georgia’s House of Representatives and the former Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Agriculture

One of Georgia’s Most Strategic Locations

Our team worked to select one of the most strategic locations in the state for the Aspire facility – more than 20 acres within the Warrenton Industrial Park in Warren County.

The size of the site makes us uniquely positioned to accommodate a facility that will support the range of R&D initiatives we aim to mobilize from the onset of operations.
Easy access to I-20, the existing infrastructure, and a location at the center of Georgia’s research triangle set the site apart.

WARREN COUNTY

237

Jobs

$11.3M

Annualized Wages

$125M

Economic Output

$47.8k

AVG Annualized Wage

TIER 1 AND TIER 2 COUNTIES

291

Jobs

$13.8M

Annualized Wages

$134M

Economic Output

$47.4k

AVG Annualized Wage

ONE-OF-A-KIND PARTNERSHIPS

We’ve fostered thoughtful partnerships and selected a strategic location to ensure our team is the most well-connected to Georgia’s leading institutions. The strength of these relationships is underscored by Aspire’s endorsement from some of Georgia’s most trusted institutions.

Aspire is endorsed by trusted institutions

RECOGNIZED LEADERS IN GEORGIA PHARMACEUTICALS AND REGULATED CANNABIS

Our team leveraged decades of hands-on experience creating enterprises in highly regulated industries and learnings from navigating the rigor of regulation to establish Aspire’s culture of compliance and transparency. For our team, there is no learning curve – we’ve done this before, many times.

Aspire is led by recognized leaders in the medical space

PROVEN INNOVATORS IN MEDICAL RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Aspire’s world-class medical team is focused on a collective goal: to make Georgia a center of excellence for cannabis research by developing foundational R&D, as they have before, around a variety of conditions to enhance patient safety and treatment efficacy.

LEGACY OF DELIVERING SUSTAINABLE AND EQUITABLE IMPACT

We understand the difference between economic impact and equitable impact, and our aim is to have an immediate and long-lasting equitable impact in three areas: geographic, demographic and economic.

Access in Georgia

Georgia’s medical marijuana law allows certain qualified persons to legally possess up to 20 fluid ounces of “low THC oil,” which is derived from the marijuana plant. It authorizes the Georgia Department of Public Health to issue a “Low THC Oil Registry Card” to qualified persons, which will prove that they are authorized to have the oil and protect them from arrest.

The law lists the following conditions and diseases which qualify for the Low THC Oil Registry:

Cancer, when such diagnosis is end stage or the treatment produces related wasting illness or recalcitrant nausea and vomiting
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, when such diagnosis is severe or end stage
Seizure disorders related to diagnosis of epilepsy or trauma related head injuries
Multiple sclerosis, when such diagnosis is severe or end stage
Crohn’s disease
Mitochondrial disease
Parkinson’s disease, when such diagnosis is severe or end stage
Sickle cell disease, when such diagnosis is severe or end stage
Tourette’s syndrome, when such syndrome is diagnosed as severe
Autism spectrum disorder, when (a) patient is 18 years of age or more, or (b) patient is less than 18 years of age and diagnosed with severe autism
Epidermolysis bullosa
Alzheimer’s disease, when such disease is severe or end stage
AIDS when such syndrome is severe or end stage
Peripheral neuropathy, when symptoms are severe or end stage
Patient is in hospice program, either as inpatient or outpatient
Intractable pain
Post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from direct exposure to or witnessing of a trauma for a patient who is at least 18 years of age

In accordance with the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission’s (GMCC) process outlined in the GMCC’s Competitive Application Request for Proposals for Class 1 and Class 2 Low-THC Oil Production Licenses, Aspire Medical Partners protested the Notice of Intent to Award Class 1 and Class 2 Production Licenses (the “NOIA”) that the GMCC issued on Saturday, July 24, 2021. The protest, as well as our minimally redacted application can be found on the GMCC website here.

Unfortunately, our full protest documents, which contained a number of exhibits to provide evidence of our protest claims, are not posted online in accordance with Georgia law, nor our amended protest documents and the additional evidence contained therein. In the spirit of transparency, we have posted our complete original protest, our amended protests, and all of the accompanying evidence and redacted applications.