Pubdate: Sun, 03 May 2015
Source: New York Post (NY)
Copyright: 2015 N.Y.P. Holdings, Inc.
Contact: http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/letters/letters_editor.htm
Website: http://www.nypost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/296
Author: Ed Zwirn
Page: 41

NY'S POT LOTTERY

300 vying for five medical licenses

The race is on to secure the five licenses to be granted under New
York state's medical marijuana program, which takes effect in January.

And the cash--crop lottery could bring in millions for the
winners.

Statewide revenues will likely total $239 million in 2016 and more
than $1.2 billion by 2020, according to a report issued by GreenWave
Advisors late last year.

"Let the cash register ring for New York state," says Green Wave's
Matt Karnes.

And there appears to be no shortage of investors looking to dip a hand
into this cash register.

Venture capitalists willing to take the plunge include Privateer
Holdings and Tilray, both of which have already had a strong presence
in the legal marijuana space.

In addition, the buzz would have it that there is a "major Wall Street
broker-dealer "placing a bet, according to one source.

At last count, there were some 300 applicants poised to spend $10,000
apiece to be considered for one of the licenses via applications that
were sent out by the state last week, say industry insiders.

Each of the five winners will then have to cough up a $200,000
registration fee in return for being able to grow and sell medical
marijuana via as many as four dispensaries each, for a grand total of
20 statewide.

The new program, which is far more restrictive than medical marijuana
advocates had hoped, bans smoking the plant but allows the sale of
oils, edibles and vapor forms of the drug.

The law allows doctors to prescribe medical marijuana only for
HIV/AIDS, Lou Gehrig's disease, Parkinson's, Huntington's disease,
epilepsy, some spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis.

"It's been a circus with respect to all the people who are circling
around,"says Lisa Padilla, a Chelsea attorney who is applying with her
wife, Allison Klein, a freelance photographer, for a medical marijuana
license.

The business would operate under the "We Cann Heal" moniker and has
financial backing from "a couple"of in-state businessmen, she says.

Padilla and Klein started work on We Cann Heal about a year--and
- -a--half ago. Klein says her inspiration came when, on a trip to
Colorado, she discovered a marijuana--infused transdermal patch that
greatly helped her father with his chronic back pain.

Padilla, whose legal practice specializes in financial and estate
planning for "nontraditional" families, says that she and Klein have
been attempting to bolster their medical marijuana cred by earning
food -safety certificates and taking instruction from Oaksterdam
University, an Oakland, Calif.-based "cannabis college" that reports
New Yorkers as the second -largest state contingent (after California)
among its student body.

"You can't just submit an application that says 'Hey, I've been
growing marijuana for the past 20 years where it's been illegal,' "
she explains.
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