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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Medical Marijuana Dispensary Coming to East 14th Street, Official Says

MANHATTAN — East 14th Street will get a medical marijuana dispensary come January 2016, an official with the company said Monday.

Columbia Care NY LLC, which on Friday became one of five companies awarded licenses to grow and sell medical marijuana in New York state, plans to open its only dispensary to those who qualify on East 14th Street, a spokesman for the company said.

Officials at Columbia Care felt that the major corridor was ideal because of its proximity to both mass transit and medical facilities like Mount Sinai's Beth Israel Hospital, said company spokesman Peter Kerr.

Kerr wouldn't provide specifics about where on 14th Street the facility would be located or what it would look like.

Columbia Care, which operates in five states with similarly restrictive medical marijuana programs like New York, has already partnered with Mount Sinai to research experimental medical treatments with marijuana.

"Our commitment to sponsor research with our hospital partners will ensure that New York State will remain at the cutting edge of innovation by continually improving patient care," Columbia Care's CEO, Nicholas Vita, said in a press release.

"We are proud that our network of dispensaries and cultivation facilities will provide economic growth throughout the state by creating jobs and fostering economic renewal," Vita added.

Columbia Care will grow its marijuana crop in Monroe with more dispensaries in that area, Suffolk and Clinton, according to the Department of Health.

Three other companies plan on opening medical marijuana operations in the city including a manufacturing facility in Queens, another dispensary in Manhattan, one in Queens and another in The Bronx.

It was not immediately clear where those facilities would be located.