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US: First Legal Cannabis Harvest Happens in New York State Nick Reisman TWC News Thursday 12 Nov 2015 A milestone in the production of medical marijuana in New York: The first legal harvest of cannabis plants happened in Fulton County on Thursday. Capital Tonight's Nick Reisman was there and has more. With more than a month to go before New York's medical marijuana program is due to come on line, Vireo Health in Fulton County harvested their first batch of a medical grade version of the plant. "Today's a momentous day for the patients of New York," Vireo Health CEO Kyle Kingsley said. "We're very excited to be actively participating in the first harvest in probably a century, the first legal harvest in about a century in New York. The plants are being grown at a converted grow facility at the former Tryon Juvenile Detention Center. They will be eventually converted into medicine that is either ingested through an oil or in pill form. It will only be available to patients with severe illnesses such as cancer and epilepsy. "I'm not sure how much we'll have," Kingsley said, "but I'm confident we'll be able to cover all the patients who are registered in New York right away." The question remains: How many patients will be prescribed the drug, which won't be covered by insurance? Meanwhile, Governor Andrew Cuomo has sought to allay concerns the program won't be up and running by the start of the new year, signing a bill that would create an expedited emergency program. Kingsley doesn't expect the new program will impact his business. "We're focused on our timeline in giving medication to patients as soon as we can," he said. "We'll work with the department to accelerate that as soon as possible. There's a lot of things that need to be done still. So our goal has been the first week of January." Vireo does have experience with other medical marijuana programs. The company has an operation in Minnesota that has been established for more than a year. "I think we're working with a really good team and the support we get from Minnesota, and they've been through the process," chief horticulturalist Chuck Schneider said. "I don't know it was so much pressure. It was a joy to be a part of doing something that's so good." For now, the program is expected to start slowly. The company is starting to contact doctors about filling prescriptions. "Most of the interactions have been one on one thus far," Vireo Chief Medical Officer Dr. Stephen Dahmer said. "Hopefully that will expand in the future as more organizations become interested and more physicians become interested." But questions still remain over the governor's approval of an expedited medical marijuana program and just where that marijuana will come from. The bill's sponsors say however it will provide flexibility to the health department when it comes to the January program coming on line. http://www.twcnews.com/nys/capital-region/capital-tonight-show/2015/11/12/first-legal-cannabis-harvest-happens-in-new-york-state.html
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