State Health Department now Accepting Medical Marijuana Registered Organization Applications

ALBANY (April 27, 2015) – The New York State Department of Health (DOH) is now accepting applications from businesses that are interested in becoming registered organizations to manufacture and dispense medical marijuana under the Compassionate Care Act. The Application, including instructions with the timeline for the registration process, is posted on the Medical Marijuana Program’s web page: http://www.health.ny.gov/regulations/medical_marijuana/application/. Organizations must apply to DOH to become a registered organization, and if approved, conform to specific requirements.

“This represents an important step in implementing the medical marijuana program in New York State,” said acting State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker. “We have laid out an ambitious timeline in getting the program up and running and we are meeting our goals. Once the applications are in, we can begin our review and move to the next step of selecting the registered organizations this summer.”

Applicants are required to provide detailed plans of their infrastructure and operations and must pay a $10,000 non-refundable application fee in addition to a $200,000 registration fee. The $200,000 registration fee will be refunded to entities that are not issued a registration. The law provides for the initial registration of up to five organizations in New York State, which will grow, manufacture, distribute, and dispense marijuana for medical use. Each registered organization may operate up to four dispensing facilities statewide, for an initial total of up to 20 geographically-dispersed dispensing facilities.

Registered organizations will be required to comply with strict security and record-keeping requirements. Registered organizations must contract with an independent laboratory located in New York State to test the medical marijuana products.

The regulations and additional information on New York’s medical marijuana program can be found on the Department of Health’s website at: https://www.health.ny.gov/regulations/medical_marijuana/.