NY: Medical Marijuana Dispensary Set To Open In Murray Hill In July

Ron Strider

Well-Known Member
Medical marijuana is about to sprout in Murray Hill. Etain, one of the five companies licensed by the state Health Department to grow and sell medical marijuana in New York, is planning to relocate one of its dispensaries from Albany to a site on E. 39th St. near Lexington Ave., the Daily News has learned.

It will be only the fourth medical marijuana dispensary to operate in the five boroughs when it opens the week of July 10.

"This just allows us to expand access to more people and a greater population," said Hillary Peckham, Etain's founder and chief operations officer, who noted that about half of the state's certified medical marijuana patients reside in the city or on Long Island.

"Most of our patients have been traveling from Long Island or Manhattan all the way to our Yonkers location and we've been getting a lot of requests that we actually move into the five boroughs," Peckham added.

Etain's move into the city has already been approved by the state Health Department. The company still intends to service patients in the Albany area through a home delivery system.

Under the state's medical marijuana law – known as The Compassionate Care Act – each grower can operate up to four dispensaries. Currently, medical marijuana shops operating in the city include: Columbia Care at E. 14th St. in Manhattan; PharmaCann on Hunts Point Ave. in the Bronx and Vireo Health on Queens Blvd. in Elmhurst.

Etain, like other medical marijuana growers in New York, has struggled as the state's program has been slow to gain traction. As of June 14, only 21,760 patients in New York had been certified by state-approved doctors to receive the drug.

"We are starting to see some improvements but it's still been a very slow start," Peckham. "We are not breaking even, so we still feel there is a long way to grow."

Etain was among a group of growers that recently filed a lawsuit against the state Health Department seeking to block the licensing of additional growers in New York. The group argued that additional producers would dilute an already thin customer base and drive them out of business.

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