New York City opens its first medical marijuana clinic, run by Columbia Care LLC, on Thursday at East 14th Street in Manhattan as part of the state's launch of its medical marijuana program, reported The Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
The medical marijuana dispensary in Manhattan is one of the 20 dispensaries that the state of New York is allowing to operate. Seven other dispensaries were set to open on Thursday, while seven others are located in Albany, Amherst, Kingston, Liverpool, Syracuse, White Plains and Williamsville.
These clinics can only dispense marijuana in the form of capsules, oils or liquids, while edible or smokeable marijuana will not be allowed.
Also, the medical marijuana program of New York will only allow the treatment of certain conditions with marijuana, including inflammatory bowel disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, cancer and AIDS. Other conditions being included in the list, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, Alzheimer's disease and rheumatoid arthritis are still under evaluation by the state.
According to The Guardian on Thursday, New York gave licenses to five companies (Columbia Care, Bloomfield Industries Inc., Etain LLC, Vireo Health and PharmaCann LLC) that are allowed to operate four medical marijuana clinics each.
Director of State Policies for the Marijuana Policy Project Karen O'Keefe pointed that the new law is "better than nothing at all," but still "falls far short of what it should be."
"It leaves behind the vast majority of patients who can benefit from medical cannabis, including those who have intractable pain and need a safer alternative to opiates," O'Keefe said. "It's cruel that so many patients are continuing to have to either break the law or needlessly suffer because the governor insisted on a restrictive program."
The Ney York Times described on Thursday one of the newly opened medical marijuana clinic located in Albany run by Etain LLC. The newly painted space, with no available signs hung yet, is equipped with a clean and sparsely furnished waiting area where patients will receive the drug.
Chief Operating Officer of Etain Hillary Peckham estimated an average of $300 to $1,200 monthly expenses of patients on marijuana as medicine.
"I always wanted to make an impact on people's lives," said Peckham. "But I never thought it would be this."