Five New York Medical Marijuana Manufacturers Approved, But None Will Serve Brooklyn Or Staten Island

New York just took a huge step towards making medical marijuana accessible to patients across the state — just not in Brooklyn or Staten Island.

Five organizations licensed by the State Department of Health to manufacture and dispense medical marijuana in New York were announced Friday, but of the 25 manufacturing and dispensary locations listed, not a single one is set to open in Southernmost boroughs of New York City.

Below is the list of approved manufacturing and dispensary locations (Queens and Manhattan will each get two!):

Only one of the five companies, Bloomfield Industries Inc., will manufacture the medical pot from New York City. The drug will be manufactured in Queens and dispensed at locations in Manhattan, Nassau, Onondaga, and Erie counties.

“Today’s announcement represents a major milestone in the implementation of New York State’s Medical Marijuana Program,” said New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker in a statement. “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.”

Advocates of the marijuana program have called the bill, which only allows for five manufacturers and 20 dispensaries and prohibits smoking, “too restrictive.” The requirements also include a prohibition against dispensing the drug within 1,000 feet of a school or church, a difficult criteria to meet in most parts of Brooklyn. In addition, the marijuana can only be approved for relief from 10 specific illnesses, including cancer, AIDS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, Parkinson’s, and epilepsy.

Though the original Compassionate Care Act was sponsored and fiercely advocated for by Senator Diane Savino, who represents parts of Staten Island and Southern Brooklyn, her own constituents will have have to travel for relief. Savino told Bensonhurst Bean she believes Staten Island-based applicants failed to win the support of some elected officials and community boards.

“Part of the problem, which has existed in other places, is you run into NIMBYism,” said Savino. “I saw that when I traveled to places like Colorado… you really have to go out and meet local elected officials and community boards and build support from the public.”

However, Savino said she was surprised that no Brooklyn locations were approved for manufacturing or dispensing the drug. Industry City, located in an industrial part of Sunset Park — secluded enough from schools or playgrounds — would have made a great location for a grow house, she noted.

Regarding constituents who are desperately in need of the medicinal weed, the senator said she hope that some of the licensed dispensaries will develop a delivery system. In addition, the law allows for patients who are homebound to have the marijuana picked up by a licensed caregiver, she said.

After a years-long opposition from former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York became the 23rd state to legalize marijuana in June 2014.

The medical marijuana program is expected to start in New York by January 2016.

Correction [June 4, 2015]: A previous version of this article erroneously stated that medical cannibis was legalized in New York in June 2015, when in fact it was in Jun 2014.