Cannabis oil is now legal in Texas, and one of the first dispensaries is set to open in North Texas.
Patrick Moran, CEO of McKinney-based AcquiFlow, is planning to open a cannabis oil dispensary in the small Grayson County town of Gunter.
Wednesday, he hosted a town hall meeting in Gunter to answer residents' questions. More than 100 people attended.
"I think there's a moral imperative to stand up against what might spread into California or Colorado, and I don't like it in our community," Gunter resident Chaunine Shanks said. "We're a small community."
Supporters said cannabis oil can help with severe forms of epilepsy. The new dispensary would be built on a six-acre site where an old cotton gin stands on the outskirts of town.
For Jeff Davis, of Fort Worth, it can't get here quick enough.
"Of all the places in Texas, I wouldn't have picked Gunter to be the first location, but that's OK," Davis said.
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Davis, who spoke at the meeting, led the fight to legalize cannabis oil in Texas last year.
The oil could help his daughter, Karly, who is epileptic and sometimes suffers 100 seizures per day.
"It's great to have something this close by," Davis said.
"I don't have a problem with it here," Gunter resident Kenda Cox said. "I think it would put Gunter on the map."
But at the end of the day, opinions won't determine whether the business is built. The site is already zoned for commercial businesses, like the dispensary, so city leaders said their hands are tied.
While the city may not have much of a say in whether the dispensary is built, the state does. Moran still has to go through an application process.
If approved, doors at the dispensary could open in the summer of 2017.
