Dispensaries in New York have finally been awarded medical marijuana licenses and are preparing to sell marijuana legally in 2016. The marijuana experiment is still going as medicinal cannabis is becoming more popular throughout the nation. New York, for instance, has given out dispensary licenses and is preparing both doctors and patients for the change. Start-ups are growing products locally, as the rules state, and are also getting ready for openings int he new year.
At the moment, twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have legalized the use of medical marijuana, GreendWave Advisors report. Only four states and the District of Columbia allow recreational marijuana. Vireo Health New York, formerly Empire State Health Solutions, is one of the five start-ups to be given a license. At the moment, there is preparation for sundry dispensary openings in Queens, White Plains, Binghamton, and Colonie. Kyle Kingsley, CEO of Vireo Health, announced that the operation had its first legal harvest in November.
“The average patient will be spending around $300 per month,” Kingsley, a former ER doctor who is running another cannabis operation in Minnesota, said. “We want to make a system that is accepted by mainstream medicine to maximize patient access.”
In addition to Vireo Health, others awarded New York state licenses are Etain, Pharmacannis, Bloomfield Industries and Columbia Care. Here’s a look at how medical marijuana will be handled in the state.
To be given medical marijuana, patients will need to have a “specific severe, debilitating or life-threatening condition that is accompanied by an associated or complicating condition,” per the New York State Department of Health. At the moment, this included ten recognized conditions including HIV or AIDS, cancer, and ALS, among many others. Medical marijuana is not covered by health insurance, so the patients will be the ones who will need to pay for it. Vireo Health NY will also have a low-income program for certain patients who will receive a ten percent discount.
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