Marijuana legalization in New York has been a long and absurd battle, tainted with restrictive legislation even as the state’s bans on medical use were slowly, haltingly lifted. Things are looking up, though, because South Slope News reports that pending approval, one of the state’s allotted medical marijuana dispensaries would be coming to the Slope, at 800 3rd Avenue. The news comes following a unanimous vote in favor of the dispensary’s presence, by the Slope’s community board.
If their application is approved, Colorado-based company Mindful Medical would run the Slope’s dispensary. They’d also have locations in Buffalo, Yonkers and Binghampton, South Slope reports. And ICYMI in that wordy senate bill, the state is allowing only five organizations to run dispensaries. Each can operate with only four locations. So, there are only 20 locations in total to acquire medical marijuana in New York State.
Announcements about the companies chosen to run the dispensaries are slated to come out as early as this week, according to South Slope. Mindful is one of 43 pending applications competing for a coveted five spots on the roster. Security will be high around the business and building (obviously), so for those of us not in any life-threatening pain/suffering from a terminal illness, illegal grow-ops and discrete bike messengers will still be our best bet for recreational use of the drug.