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Yesterday, a growing medical cannabis franchise opened its newest clinic in Lake Country.
Compass Cannabis Clinic, located in the Turtle Bay Crossing area, is now accepting patients, with franchise owners Celine Fitzgerald and Gavin Meehan at the reigns.
The clinic has a staff of two doctors who help patients explore how medical cannabis can help them with their ailments. Like any other clinic, it’s free to see a doctor (as long as you have medical coverage), and Compass makes its money by referring patients to licensed producers to fill their prescriptions.
Fitzgerald, who moved to Kelowna from Saskatchewan last year, says the franchise is her first foray into business ownership.
The fact that she is running a cannabis clinic, as opposed to a retail chain or fast food joint, is an indication that the cannabis industry is set to have a huge impact on the business world.
Fitzgerald said she moved to Kelowna last year in part because “it was just time for me to venture out and do my own thing.”
With years of managerial experience under her belt, she was ready to take the next step and open up her own business, something she said would give her free reign to make “more responsible” decisions.
In the past, the go-to option for people like her would be to turn to a fast food or clothing chain. But with pot about to become legal in Canada, and acceptance of marijuana becoming more widespread, a cannabis-related franchise was a pretty attractive option for her.
Fitzgerald said she wanted to run a business that was natural, would help people, and also that she could “make a living off of.”
“I’ve always wanted to open something. Initially, I thought fast food, but I don’t really agree with fast food… so it had to be something that was along my lines, and I wanted to be able to have the freedom to be able to expand and explore it,” she said.
Compass, she said, gave her all those things, with the same “big parachute” she would have expected from a more traditional franchise.
“This is my actual first business ownership, so this was quite an adventure for me to step off the ledge and just go for it,” she said.
More information on Compass Cannabis is available online.
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