BY R.J. DELUKE<\/p>\n
New York state is expected to take the next
\nbig step in its plan to provide medical marijuana
\nto patients with ailments including cancer, HIV\/
\nAIDS, Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS), Parkinson’s
\ndisease and multiple sclerosis.<\/p>\n
Among the 43 applications being considered
\nis a location in the Washington County town
\nof Jackson–north of Cambridge and east of
\nGreenwich– on Plains Road.
\nAnother proposal, a group that would cultivate
\nits crop in Plattsburgh, wants to locate
\none of its dispensaries in Halfmoon in Saratoga
\nCounty.<\/p>\n
In July 2014, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the
\nstate Legislature enacted the Compassionate
\nCare Act. It lays out the rules for the program
\nand how it would be regulated and dispensed.
\n“We’ve put in an application for a cultivation
\nsite in the town of Jackson, in Washington County,”
\nsaid Ted Berndt who bought the Washington
\nCounty Agri-Business Park in a tax auction.
\nThere are “various value-added agricultural
\nactivities” in the park currently, he said.<\/p>\n
The marijuana cultivation space would be a
\n12-acre secured site, he said.
\n“We have a tremendous amount of public
\nsupport, local county and state,” he noted.<\/p>\n
In March, the Washington County Board of
\nSupervisors passed a resolution of support and
\nBerndt also received a letter of support from the
\nWashington County Local Development Corp.
\nBerndt owns the site in a partnership with
\nother farmers in the area.<\/p>\n
He said if the license is successful, it will
\nbe leased as Compassionate Relief Centers of
\nNew York, which will conduct the business. He
\nalso has leases on four other sites, two upstate
\nand two downstate, that would become the dispensaries.
\nBerndt anticipates 25-30 jobs being created
\nat the site, “meaningful agricultural jobs in
\nWashington County” and similar numbers at
\nthe dispensaries. He did not name where those
\nwould be.<\/p>\n
For any county that contains one of the
\nlicensed sites, for every $10 million in revenue,
\nthe host county would get $160,000, Berndt said.
\nThere is also a 7 percent state excise tax on all
\nthe proceeds from sales. Washington County
\nwould get 22.5 percent of that 7 percent. Host
\ncounties where the dispensaries are located
\nwould get a percentage of that as well.<\/p>\n
Douglas Butdorf of North Country Roots
\nin Plattsburgh has the application to grow
\nmarijuana in Platttsburgh and place one of
\nhis dispensaries in Halfmoon. He said he has
\na lease on a building there, and is approaching
\nHalfmoon officials about what he needs to get
\nthe ball rolling–if he’s successful in getting a
\nstate license.<\/p>\n
Berndt said the state Department of Health
\ntold him the time line for finding out who gets a
\nlicense is early July, but with over 40 applicants,
\nit might take longer, he thinks.<\/p>\n
“We are in a fully funded partnership with
\nthe Greater New York Hospital Association” and
\nits for-profit arm, said Berndt.
\n“We see it as a patient health care delivery
\nissue, so partnering with a hospital is the best
\nway to do it,” he said. “We think we’ve got a very
\ngood application … We’ll see how it shakes out.”<\/p>\n
Greater New York Hospital Association is
\na trade association comprising nearly 250
\nhospitals and continuing care facilities, both
\nvoluntary and public throughout the state, as
\nwell as New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. It helps hospitals deliver patient care
\nin the most cost-effective way.<\/p>\n
According to its website, it operates the largest
\nbusiness enterprise of any trade association
\nin the U.S. through its for-profit arm, GNYHA
\nVentures Inc. These efforts generate billions in
\ncommerce while also delivering value for its
\nmembers. Working with the Association, GNYHA
\nVentures, Inc. navigates the world of business
\nadvocacy to help improve hospital operations
\nand to provide industry-leading transparency
\nand cost reduction.<\/p>\n
The companies who are awarded licenses will
\nbe permitted to open up to four dispensaries.
\nButdorf noted the excise tax “is not receiptdriven.
\nPatients will not see the tax on their
\nreceipt. It is a 7 percent tax taken off the top
\non total sales.”<\/p>\n
If things go as Butdorf hopes, Saratoga
\nCounty would get an occasional check from New
\nYork state via the excise tax setup.<\/p>\n
If the dispensary is running, he will employ
\n8-15 people, “depending upon how fast patients
\ncome on board with the New York state medical
\nmarijuana program,” he said.
\nIf license is approved in July, his group would
\ntake three to four months to retrofit the building
\n“and go from there.”<\/p>\n
The 43 applicants were required to pay two
\nfees. One is a $200,000 fee. All unsuccessful
\napplicants will receive a refund for that fee.
\nThe other $10,000 fee is non-refundable. That
\nmeans the state will end up collecting $1.43
\nmillion from the application process.<\/p>\n
Cuomo said in 2014 that the program is a
\nstep forward “to provide much-needed relief
\nto New Yorkers living with extraordinary pain,
\nwhile balancing the need to safeguard general
\npublic health and safety.”<\/p>\n
He said the proposed regulations “are designed
\nwith that in mind, so that we can alleviate
\nsuffering for patients with serious conditions
\nwhile also ensuring that medical marijuana is
\ndispensed and administered responsibly.”
\nEntities that wanted to manufacture and
\ndistribute medical marijuana applied to the
\nDepartment of Health.<\/p>\n
Registered organization licenses will last
\nfor two-years, state officials said. Registered
\norganizations would be required to maintain
\nseparate facilities for manufacturing and dispensing
\nmedical marijuana and would have to
\nmeet strict security guidelines.<\/p>\n
The DOH commissioner would approve the
\nforms and delivery systems through which
\nmedical marijuana could be offered, excluding
\nsmoking, which will be prohibited. Each
\nregistered organization would initially be permitted
\nto produce up to five types of medical
\nmarijuana products. Independent laboratory
\ntesting would verify cannabinoid content to
\nensure consistency.<\/p>\n
“Our goal is to ensure that New Yorkers have
\naccess to the treatment they need through
\na controlled, regulated process,” said acting
\nCommissioner Dr. Howard Zucker. “As an added
\nlevel of security, physicians must review their
\npatients’ history of controlled substances in the
\nI-STOP database before a certification can be
\nissued and before medical marijuana can be
\ndispensed.”<\/p>\n
Registered organizations will be able to
\ndispense up to a 30-day supply of medical marijuana
\nto certified patients with a valid registry
\nidentification card. Patients may only possess
\nup to a 30-day supply of medical marijuana.<\/p>\n
The medical marijuana will be dispensed in
\na sealed and properly labeled package, with a
\nsafety insert included. Patients must keep the
\nmedical marijuana in the original packaging in
\nwhich it was dispensed.<\/p>\n
The program will make medical marijuana
\naccessible to patients with conditions including
\ncancer, HIV\/AIDS, ALS, Parkinson’s disease,
\nmultiple sclerosis, damage to the nervous tissue
\nof the spinal cord with objective neurological
\nindication of intractable spasticity, epilepsy,
\ninflammatory bowel disease, neuropathies and
\nHuntington’s disease. The law includes these
\nconditions when there is a clinical association
\nwith or complication of the condition resulting
\nin cachexia or wasting syndrome, severe or
\nchronic pain, severe nausea, seizures; or severe
\nor persistent muscle spasms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BY R.J. DELUKE New York state is expected to take the next big step in its plan to provide medical marijuana to patients with ailments including cancer, HIV\/ AIDS, Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS), Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis. Among…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[66,96,118],"yoast_head":"\r\n