The latest medical-marijuana retail store in Florida opened in The Villages Tuesday, making the drug more readily available to patients in the sprawling active-adult retirement community.
Kim Rivers, chief executive officer of Trulieve, which operates seven of the 12 medical-marijuana dispensaries open in Florida, said the average age of the patients in The Villages is 55 — a time when people begin to suffer from some of the maladies the state allows to be treated with the drug.
The dispensary is in Lady Lake.
Medical-marijuana retail centers are popping up throughout Florida, and more are expected to open now that the state Legislature has agreed to expand the number of licensed producers and allow more dispensaries.
Orlando got its first dispensary June 2 in the Ivanhoe Village neighborhood. It’s owned by Knox Medical.
sjacobson@orlandosentinel.com or 407-540-5981