Grain Valley alumni team up seek to help others, serve community through KC Cannabis venture

​     Corey Martin, Chief of Staff with KC Cannabis, and Dan Nelson, Chief Operations Officer, are proud products of Grain Valley. The lifelong friends were in Boy Scouts, played football, and graduated from Grain Valley.
     “Dan and I have been best friends since 7th grade. After high school, Dan went into the commercial trades, and I went into the Army,” Martin said.
     After 20 years in those respective fields, the pair have teamed up with others to build KC Cannabis, a medical cannabis dispensary that opened in April in four locations in the metro, including a store in Blue Springs.
     “We want to provide access to patients, but we also want to be active in our community,” Martin said.
     “We’re doing a lot of community outreach and engagement, working with multiple nonprofits, and just trying to do the right thing for the community in which we grew up in and we live in.”
     Martin said a big part of their job is to help dispel the many myths surrounding the industry, as well as encouraging prospective patients to not be shy about learning about the options available to them.
      “Of course, one of the biggest misconceptions is that cannabis is just for people to get high. But there are many medical benefits to cannabis. One of the biggest things we do is educate people about the benefits of cannabis over opiates and other prescription medications.”
     “We always encourage patients to talk to your primary care doctor first. Tell them you are curious about using cannabis for their condition. We are finding that most doctors are open to patients trying something that might work for them.”
      Recommendations can come from a patient’s primary physician, or prospective patients can meet via telehealth or in-person appointment with KC Cannabis partner Kind Remedy. Prospective patients complete an application through the State, and the approval process takes approximately 2-3 weeks. Once a patient is approved and receives a patient card, KC Cannabis staff can work with the patient to find the ingestion methods, potencies, cultivars of strains that gives them the proper effects.
     “I see people every single day that are benefiting from cannabis. Some people don’t want to take opioids and are finding relief for pain and other conditions through cannabis products.”
     Martin shared the story of an older gentlemen who has been taking 8 hydrocodone per day to try to manage his pain. After trying some low dose gummies in conjunction with a THC vape pen, he reduced his hydrocodone to two pills per day.
     “He told us it’s the first time he’s had relief in a decade. In a week in a half, he was down to two pills. That’s a huge success story,” Martin said.
     “We’ve got multiple patients who come in that are being treated for cancer and are using full extract cannabis oil (FECO). We were able to bring this product to the Missouri market and sell it at cost. That has been huge for people.”
     Martin said they also see patients with epilepsy as well as patients dealing with chronic arthritis and pain, among other conditions.
     In addition to the Blue Springs location, KC Cannabis currently has locations in Kearney, Excelsior Springs, and a location in Lake Lotawana opening in October.
     The Blue Springs location at 1713 NW Burdett Crossing is open daily from 11:00am – 7:00pm. For more information, prospective patients are welcome to visit the store or visit their website at  www.kccannabis.org.

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