Yesterday, the NY State Department of Health announced that NYC was getting four medical marijuana dispensaries, with two operating in Manhattan and another two located in the Bronx and Queens. Turns out one of these dispensaries will be located on East 14th Street, —but one elected official is urging the companies permitted to run these dispensaries to open one uptown.
The Times reports that the dispensary operated by Columbia Care will be located on East 14th Street, a heavily trafficked area that's located near a number of medical facilities. Another company awarded the right to open a dispensary in the city, Bloomfield Industries, will debut one in an undisclosed location in Manhattan—they are also opening a dispensary in Hunter's Point in Queens.
Yesterday, City Council Member Mark Levine issued a statement urging Columbia Care and Bloomfield Industries to open at least one dispensary in Northern Manhattan. "Thousands of chronically ill patients here deserve access to this important new medical option, but many will be unable to travel long distances to a dispensary," he said. "The need for accessibility is even stronger among the communities of color which I represent, where rates of diseases like HIV/AIDS and Parkinson’s are higher than in the general population."
Levine is one of several officials who has criticized the state's Compassionate Care Act, which many say is too small to make a significant difference in the lives of sick people who need access to medical marijuana. "In a state with 20 million people and 54,000 square miles, that will not meet patient needs, especially for very ill patients in rural areas," Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, who sponsored the medical marijuana bill, said.
