Longtime Valley businessmen behind futuristic medical marijuana plant

YOUNGSTOWN

There is a process that must be followed before laying eyes on the sea of green marijuana plants hidden in the bowels of Riviera Creek medical marijuana facility just outside downtown Youngstown.

Masks and gloves must be worn, clothes must be stripped and surgical scrubs donned. Even shoes have to be left in the facility’s small changing area in exchange for Croc-like plastic footwear.

Walking down a long, stark whit corridor promotes a feeling of clinical rigidity; lab technicians in scrubs and masks tend to computers and microscopes, windows in the wall reveal workstations, complete with office chairs and file sorters.

Opposite the lab and offices are the futuristic grow rooms where aeroponic-grown cannabis plants are suspended, their stems and leaves virtually touching nothing as nutrients are applied directly to their free-hanging roots through a mist.

The facility is the work of Brian and Daniel Kessler of Kessler Products, a local company that dealt in plastics and other goods. The family has been in business in the Valley in one way or another for more than 100 years.

With their new venture, the Kesslers hope to eventually deliver a medical marijuana product with the same consistency in application as any common over-the-counter drug, such as Tylenol.

Read more about it in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.