The next step for New York’s new medical marijuana industry is today. Companies that want to grow or dispense the drug must submit applications to the state health department.
Only five licenses will be awarded to companies that want to grow and sell medical marijuana. But each company can have up to four dispensaries. So, as many as 20 places where New York patients could get the drug.
There’s a $10,000 application fee and winners pay an additional $200,000 for a two-year license. The state will award the licenses this summer and companies must begin dispensing medical marijuana by early January.
Among the companies applying, CitivaMedical wants to start a growing facility in the Finger Lakes in the town of Romulus in at the old Seneca Army Depot, between Seneca Lake and Route 96. Their effort got the endorsement of the town’s board in April. In a letter, Romulus supervisor David Kaiser said that the company’s use of the site could help boost employment there.
Towns around the state are hoping that this new industry could create significant job growth.
