The production of any medical-grade product is serious business. Purity of product is a tremendous priority, with stringent measures taken against contamination and often the conditions are akin to those of a “clean room” where the danger of contaminating the product is minimal – if not completely eliminated.

However, that’s probably not the immediate picture you get when you think about growing cannabis, is it?

When it comes to First State Compassion, Delaware’s medical marijuana pioneers, it should be, because even though cannabis might have once had a seedy reputation when it was bought exclusively on the street, the modern realities of medical-grade cannabis are far different. At FSC, treat our products as exactly what they are – medicine – and our production process and quality control standards reflect the same clean and careful process that would go into producing an over-the-counter product you’d buy at your neighborhood pharmacy.

First, we raise all our cannabis varieties ourselves, indoors in hydroponic grow rooms under near organic conditions. Indoor growing accomplishes a number of things. This protects our plants from pests and environmental damage associated with outdoor growing. That also means there’s no need to treat our plants with harsh chemicals like pesticides or herbicides. We keep our grow rooms sterile, and all the employees who work there are certified growers with “green thumbs” when it comes to growing cannabis. They also wear personal protection equipment (PPE) to avoid further contamination.

Even though them names of our strains might remind you of varieties from the heyday of illegal marijuana, each one is bred with precise amounts of active ingredients. And because FSC’s products are grown specifically for medical use, we use the types of terpenes – the natural compounds that determine the effects of each cannabis strain – to formulate blends that can address specific medical ailments and qualifying conditions.

That’s where our patient advisors come in. Each one is trained to assess a patient’s needs and suggest the right blend of products in the right form (smokeable, vapor, edible, etc.) to suit a patient’s preference, to ensure that their experience is one that addresses their specific condition in the correct dosage. It’s just another link in the FSC chain ensuring that each step in the production and distribution of our medicines guarantees the highest possible quality.