The state Department of Health (DOH)
selected the five organizations to be issued
registrations to manufacture and dispense
medical marijuana under the state Medical
Marijuana Program.
One growing facility will be in the town of
Chester in northern Warren County.
Douglas Butdorf of North Country Roots in
Plattsburgh, that wanted to locate one of its
dispensaries in Halfmoon, did not receive a
license. The Washington County application
filed by Ted Berndt who wanted to have a
growing facility in the Washington County
town of Jackson–north of Cambridge and
east of Greenwich–on Plains Road, was also
unsuccessful.
Among the five, however, was that of Etain
LLC, a Katonah-based group that plans to grow
marijuana at a 17-acre site in Warren County,
which will create an estimated 60 to 85 jobs.
The selection of the five registered organizations
is a key step forward in the accelerated
timetable to implement the Medical
Marijuana Program by January 2016. The state
is working to implement the program and
begin providing care to patients faster than
any other state has previously done.
State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard
Zucker said he hopes to have the program up
and running within 18 months.
“I am proud that we are on course to provide
certified patients with access to medical
marijuana more quickly than any other state
in the nation,” he said. “The five organizations
selected for registration today showed,
through a rigorous and comprehensive evaluation
process, they are best suited to produce
and provide quality medical marijuana to
eligible New Yorkers in need, and to comply with New York’s strict program requirements.”
Each licensee will have five dispensaries
where the medicinal product will be sold.
None are in Saratoga, Washington or Warren
counties.
Etain will dispense in Albany, Westchester,
Ulster and Onondaga counties.
Etain is led by two women in their mid-20s
along with their mother, Amy Peckham, who
is married to John Peckham, the CEO of the
White Plains-based construction company
Peckham Industries.
Its website states it is a “women-owned
family business interested in healthy and safe
agricultural solutions for medical patients …
whose mission is to optimize the quality of
life of our patients by giving them access to
medical cannabis.”
DOH will carefully monitor patient demand
to ensure all New Yorkers who meet the requirements
of the Compassionate Care Act
have access to the program.
As set forth in the Program’s implementing
statute, each registered organization will
initially be permitted to produce up to five
types of medical marijuana products in forms
approved by the commissioner. Approved
forms include liquids and oils for vaporization,
oromucosal or sublingual administration, or
administration per tube as well as capsules
to take orally.
Independent laboratory testing of the final
products is required, to test for contaminants
and ensure product consistency. Further,
DOH must approve product pricing and any
advertising.
For more information about the program,
visit www.health.ny.gov/regulations/medical_marijuana/.