This article originally appeared in the April 2017 print edition of Cannabis Business Times. To subscribe, click here.
Survey a group of medical marijuana cultivators on why they grow cannabis and most are likely to answer that they want to help people: sick children, ailing veterans and people from all walks of life afflicted with devastating or chronic medical conditions.
Dr. Andrew Bachman, M.D., co-founder and CEO of LeafLine Labs, a Minnesota-based medical marijuana producer and patient care center operator, is no different. After spending 11 years as an emergency care doctor in his home-state of Minnesota and seeing the effects of the opioid crisis first-hand, he decided something needed to be done. (Minnesota saw more than 500 people die from opioid abuse in 2014 and nearly 600 in 2015, according to data from the Center for Disease Control.)
“When you know better, do better,” Bachman often repeats, quoting Maya Angelou. His company, co-founded with fellow physician Dr. Gary Starr, is built upon that code: Patients are placed above profits.
The company never promised investors a quick payout, yet managed to raise nearly $16 million—before officially starting to offer its products in July 2015—by selling those investors on that philosophy.
That money went toward building a 42,000-square foot, pharmaceutical-grade medical cannabis cultivation and processing facility (Minnesota’s program only allows for cannabis extracts), as well as four patient care centers.
Driven by Passion
For Bachman, launching LeafLine Labs was a bit like going back to his roots. His family has owned and operated an ornamental greenhouse business since his great-grandfather turned an inherited parcel of land into what would become a long-standing family business nearly a century ago.
“I have grown up with that as my proud history,” Bachman says, adding that this history meshes perfectly with his passion and knowledge of medicine.
“Those two worlds just complement each other beautifully well here in the cannabis space, and when you look in the mirror and realize that you will do this best for a state I love dearly and the people who live here, then in my opinion, you don't have a choice. You just simply act.”
To read the full article in Cannabis Business Times' April edition, click here.
Photo: David Bowman Photography
