While work continues to renovate the interior, Mike Lara, majority owner of Sun Buds, said this banner along East Main Street has generated more than 100 applications for jobs when the dispensary opens as early as August.
The former Buck’s Restaurant at 314 East Main St. in Rising Sun is undergoing interior re-construction to become Sun Buds, a medical and recreational marijuana dispensary.
With the hope that public opinion will change toward medical and recreational marijuana, Mike Lara said he has strict state and federal guidelines to follow for Sun Buds, which he hopes to be open in August at 314 East Main St. in Rising Sun. He said changing advertising rules may force him to take this banner down.
While work continues to renovate the interior, Mike Lara, majority owner of Sun Buds, said this banner along East Main Street has generated more than 100 applications for jobs when the dispensary opens as early as August.
The former Buck’s Restaurant at 314 East Main St. in Rising Sun is undergoing interior re-construction to become Sun Buds, a medical and recreational marijuana dispensary.
With the hope that public opinion will change toward medical and recreational marijuana, Mike Lara said he has strict state and federal guidelines to follow for Sun Buds, which he hopes to be open in August at 314 East Main St. in Rising Sun. He said changing advertising rules may force him to take this banner down.
RISING SUN — As Mike Lara prepared to retire from Northrop Grumman in Elkton, he was in search of an investment that he could use to support his retirement life.
“A funny thing happened on the way to retirement,” Lara said. “I had a friend with a friend out west that was looking for investors in a dispensary.”
Lara agreed to become an investor for a cannabis dispensary in Cecil County and entered the licensing lottery run by the Office of Social Equity. Here’s where Lara said the amusement arrived.
“Per Maryland rules, you had to be a 65% owner to put in an application,” he said.
So instead of being a fringe investor, Lara now owns more than half of Sun Buds, which he expects will open in August where Buck’s Restaurant once stood at 314 East Main St. in Rising Sun.
Similar to alcoholic beverage stores, a dispensary selling medical and recreational marijuana can’t be close to a school, church or daycare. With dispensaries already in Elkton and Perryville, Lara was looking at North East first.
“Everywhere I looked, I saw a steeple,” he said of his walk through downtown North East.
Rising Sun was his next choice.
Collin McIlvried, owner of Green Genie LLC, a hydroponic cannabis growing operation in Elkton, told Lara about the former restaurant location.
“Green Genie knew Chad Johnston was looking for a new restaurant to go into Buck’s,” he said.
Johnston also owns the property that is home to Buck’s Tavern and Johnston Liquors. The once-popular restaurant closed in 2023 and had been vacant until Lara took over.
“There was some mold, and the electric is being redone. There was a little bit of termite damage,” he said of the interior.
Lara added he’s been told that Rising Sun made improvements to the area to prevent the flooding that would happen in heavy rainfall.
“Right now, it’s just framing,” he said.
Lara also has strict requirements on how to set up and operate the 2,400-square-foot space.
“The state is very specific as to how you construct it, where you put your cameras and data storage for the cameras,” he said.
The law also requires Sun Buds to purchase its stock from licensed producers in Maryland exclusively, so he expects to sell a lot of products from Green Genie and also Sun Med in Warwick.
Sun Buds will be adults-only, allowing entry to 21 and older; but 18 and older with a medical marijuana card. Lara said there would be no consumption on site.
“But Maryland is considering consumption lounges,” he said.
He expects that to follow a loosening of federal laws regarding marijuana, as well as public opinion.
“Once people get a better understanding of what it’s all about, hopefully those fears will be quelled,” Lara said. “I understand people’s fears about these kinds of businesses.”
Lara said he took dispensary technician training at Cecil College and was surprised at how much there was to learn.
“We have an endo cannabinoid system in our bodies,” he said, adding the human body responds to cannabis in a variety of applications.
“For anxiety, it’s a good treatment for a lot of folks,” he said, adding there are strains to help one sleep, or stay awake. “It can give you a little pick up without the high.”
Sun Buds will sell product for smoking, but also edibles.
He’s already received more than 100 applications for employment. A large banner in the parking lot announces the store and gives information on how to apply for a job,
“My guess is we’ll have 12 to 18 people full time and maybe as many part-timers,” Lara said.
The store will be open seven days a week from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m.
“The state is changing their advertising rules and regulations. I might have to take the banner down,” Lara noted.
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