JACKSON TWP — A local medical marijuana company is hoping to bring its business to Jackson Township as one of its three locations in Western Pennsylvania.

Solevo Wellness, formerly known as Keystone Relief, is currently preparing plans for a location on Jackson Pointe Drive in Jackson Township.

“We’re trying to get in by the end of the year,” said Dr. Robert Capretto, Solevo Wellness chairman and licensed orthodontist. “The architect is working on the plans, then they’ll go to the township.”

While Solevo has yet to put its plans before the planning commission, Capretto said both the township and the community members it has engaged with have been receptive to the company, and it hopes to continue to build relationships in the township.

“We want to connect with the community groups and inform people,” he said. “There’s a lot of misinformation out there.”

Capretto has found that many people he encounters already know a lot about medical marijuana.

“People are educated,” he said. “They know as much or more than I do.”

The business also hopes to employ dozens of residents in the area.

“We’ll have 35 jobs or so,” Capretto said. “We’ll have nurses; we’ll have pharmacists, security people. We’ll have well-trained people who handle the products.”

Solevo is hoping to be in place and ready to operate by the end of the year.

Capretto was sure to explain the lengths he went to ensure the product is strictly for medical use.

“I was actually against medical marijuana until 2016, mostly because I didn’t understand it,” he said.

Capretto’s views changed after talking with industry experts, he said.

These experts showed him that many, if not most, strains of medical marijuana do not contain the hallucinogenic compound THC, meaning users could not use them to effectively get high.

“Just like everything, there may be (businesses) who abuse it,” he said. “But that won’t be us.”

Solevo is one of four companies who received approval to pursue a medical marijuana facility in Butler County.

“The state has been very thoughtful,” Capretto said, explaining that the state has set strict guidelines for those who would like to purchase legal marijuana.

The department of health granted 27 dispensary permits across the state, and each permitted business has the option to open three locations. Fifty-two locations were approved overall.

Region 5, which contains 11 counties in the southwest part of the state, received five permits and approval for 11 locations: four in Butler County, four in Allegheny County, one in Washington County, one in Fayette County and one in Westmoreland County.

Medical marijuana was allowed with passage of Act 16 of 2016.

The law requires dispensaries to be stand-alone buildings no closer than 1,000 feet from a school or day care center.

The product can be sold in the forms of pills, oil, topicals, vaporizer, nebulizer, tincture and liquid.