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Second Medical Marijuana Dispensary Opens in Syracuse

Scott Willis
/
WAER News

  Syracuse’s second medical marijuana dispensary is ready to open on Wednesday.  Etain Health has set up shop on Erie Boulevard East, and will grant eligible patients access to oil-based cannabis products such as a topical oil, a spray, capsules, and a liquid for use in a vaporizing pen.

Physicians must go through a special training course in order to prescribe the drug. Patients must be certified by the state and suffer from a very narrow list of critical illnesses;  Cancer, HIV/AIDS, ALS, Parkinson’s, MS, intractable spasticity due to the nervous tissue damage, epilepsy, inflammatory bowel disease neuropathies and Huntington's disease.   It was seeing those ailments first hand that got Etain COO Hillary Peckham involved in the medical marijuana industry. 

Credit Scott Willis / WAER News
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WAER News
Hillary Peckam, COO of Etain, presents the variety of forms and packaging the marijuana will be dispensed to the patients.

"My grandmother was diagnosed with ALS and she was put on up to 20 medications and had side effects from all those medications. A doctor in New York said ' Have you've tried marijuana?' but there  was no way we can access it. I was just getting over my own injury, I lost the use of my leg for 2 years. I had to relearn how to walk. I still have a lot of chronic pain from that. "

Peckham says that doctors, patients, and the State of New York are beginning to recognize the benefits medical marijuana provides.  This will be Etain’s third location, and Peckham believes their business can only continue to grow. As of February 2, 2016 334 physicians have registered for the NYS medical marijuana program and 551 patients have been certified by their doctors. 

In July of 2014 Governor Cuomo signed into law the Compassionate Care Act that opened access for patients proven in need of being prescribed medial marijuana. The state will continue to closely regulate all aspects of the program from manufacturing, physician prescribers, patient needs to the dispensary of the drug.  Marijuana continues to be illegal on the federal level; that means all transactions must be in cash because banks are federally insured. Etain is aware of the security needed for facility both keeping regulations with NYS and the cash deposits; there are multiple cameras throughout the facility, all accessible by the staff's smartphones.

Products will retail between $100 and $250 each, depending on their potency.  Peckham says a pharmacist is required to be on site, but they have no direct contact with doctors.  She already knows of three patients who will stop by the dispensary when they open Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The dispensary is located at 2140 Erie Boulevard East in Syracuse. 

Scott Willis
/
WAER News
The non-descript building on Erie Boulevard East. Signage will be added later.

Credit Scott Willis / WAER News
/
WAER News
The small waiting area at the dispensary.

Scott Willis covers politics, local government, transportation, and arts and culture for WAER. He came to Syracuse from Detroit in 2001, where he began his career in radio as an intern and freelance reporter. Scott is honored and privileged to bring the day’s news and in-depth feature reporting to WAER’s dedicated and generous listeners. You can find him on twitter @swillisWAER and email him at srwillis@syr.edu.