Yes, there will be medical marijuana on schedule, state says

New York’s medical marijuana program will launch Thursday with eight of the 20 dispensaries opening as scheduled, the state Department of Health said Tuesday.

The program has been 18 months in the making after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the Compassionate Care Act in July 2014. Five manufacturers are expected to open 20 dispensaries across New York.

Non-smokeable forms of medical marijuana will be available to patients who register with the state and receive a prescription from a certified physician, who is required to take a four-hour, online course to be approved by the state.

Eight dispensaries will be open for business on Thursday: in Syracuse and Liverpool in Onondaga County; Albany; Kingston, Ulster County; Amherst and Williamsville in Erie County; White Plains; and Manhattan.

Other sites include Yonkers, Rochester and Johnson City, Broome County. One of the manufacturing sites is at the Eastman Business Park near Rochester.

They are expected to open throughout the month, and the health department said that the manufacturers are coming up with plans to get the drug to patients who can’t travel to a dispensary. The initial deadline to open was Tuesday, but the law gave the state the discretion on when the facilities could open.

Information on pricing of the marijuana, which isn’t covered by health insurance and may cost between $250 to $500 a month, is also expected to be released later this week.

“Our program ensures the availability of pharmaceutical-grade medical marijuana products for certified patients and establishes strict regulatory controls to protect public health and safety,” health commissioner Howard Zucker said in a statement.

Vireo Health, which is manufacturing the drug near Albany, showed off its dispensary in White Plains on Tuesday, It’s the company opening the Johnson City dispensary.

Only patients with certain medical conditions are eligible for the drug. The diseases include cancer, HIV/AIDS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, intractable spasticity, epilepsy, inflammatory bowel disease, neuropathies and Huntington’s disease.

The state also revealed for the first time the number of doctors who have signed up for the program: Nearly 150 physicians have done so. The state hasn’t indicated whether it would release a list of doctors who have signed up.

In order to obtain medical marijuana, a patient has to register online after getting certified by a state-approved doctor. The patients can do so at: http://www.health.ny.gov/regulations/medical_marijuana/patients/

A patient would then get a registry card to take to a dispensary.

More information on New York’s Medical Marijuana program can be found here: http://www.health.ny.gov/regulations/medical_marijuana/.