For Abbe Kruger, the day she sat bedside with her terminally ill mother was the day she started believing in medical marijuana. Abbe’s mother died of pancreatic cancer four years ago after enduring months of pain that Abbe said could have been alleviated by the drug. Now, Abbe has taken her advocacy to a higher level as the CEO of one of 27 companies awarded a permit by the state to dispense cannabis-derived pills, oils, creams and other substances for medical treatment in what is expected to become a multibillion-dollar industry. “In all honesty, that experience, if I wasn’t a believer before, certainly it solidified my belief in patients’ ability to have access to medical marijuana,” said Kruger, a 47-year-old Shavertown resident who leads Justice Grown Pennsylvania LLC. As the state’s nascent industry develops, patients who have a state-issued card will be able to pick up medical marijuana from Justice Grown’s dispensary in the Gateway Shopping Center in Edwardsville starting sometime early next year. At this point, just three months after the state Department of Health gave specified companies the go-ahead to grow, process and dispense medical marijuana — and halfway to the deadline for those entities to be up and running — several questions remain industry-wide.