None of New York's Marijuana Dispensaries Will Be Located in Brooklyn

Brooklyn has been abuzz with the possibility of two new medical marijuana dispensaries popping up within its borders — one in Downtown Brooklyn, and one in Sunset Park.

But looking at the five companies chosen by the New York State Department of Health to receive licenses on Friday, not one with plans for manufacturing or dispensing in Brooklyn made the list.

PalliaTech, one of the 43 companies in the running but not granted a license today by the DOH, already leased a space in Downtown Brooklyn with plans to build a “pharmacy-like dispensary with a modern Apple store-like design.” And Mindful Medical, also not granted a license, was whizzing through the community approval process for a dispensary in Sunset Park.

Looks like they jumped the gun.

The five companies chosen by the DOH to grow and sell medical weed are:

• Bloomfield Industries Inc., which will manufacture in Queens and dispense in Nassau, Manhattan, Onondaga and Erie counties.
• Columbia Care NY LLC, which will manufacture in Rochester and dispense in Monroe, Manhattan, Suffolk and Clinton counties.
• Empire State Health Solutions, which will manufacture in Fulton County and dispense in Broome, Albany, Westchester and Queens counties.
• Etain, LLC, which will manufacture in Warren County and dispense in Albany, Ulster, Westchester and Onondaga counties.
• PharmaCann LLC, which will manufacture in Orange County and dispense in Erie, Onondaga, Albany and Bronx counties.

So it appears the nearest dispensaries to Brooklyn will be two in Manhattan, one in Queens and one in the Bronx.

New York State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker says in a statement that the five chosen organizations “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.”

The state’s much-anticipated medical marijuana program is on track to open to patients in January 2016.