With New York’s medical cannabis industry struggling to get rolling, one licensed grower is hoping to hook up a market with a never-ending supply number of potential patients — nursing homes.
Etain Health has scored a contract with a seniors home in the Bronx to provide its residents with pot products, according to the New York Daily News.
It’s believed to be the first such deal in the state, but industry experts expect similar arrangements will grow over time across the continent as a number of American and Canadian companies have reportedly approached senior facilities.
According to the deal, Etain will help staff at the unidentified nursing home become certified to recommend medical cannabis products to residents in their care.
The move could prove critical for New York’s nascent MMJ program, which has been hurt by, among other things, a lack of health professionals certified to prescribe cannabis. As of Feb. 7, only 849 health practitioners were certified to recommend medical marijuana, while 13,389 patients were registered with the state.
New York’s original medical marijuana law allowed only physicians to recommend medical cannabis. But state health regulators recently allowed nurse practitioners to recommend medical marijuana, and steps are being taken to allow physician assistants to do so.
Once nursing home staff are certified and start registering patients, Etain would operate under a new home-delivery law to transport cannabis products to patients.