A medical marijuana dispensary recently opened for business on Erie Boulevard in Syracuse.

Patients who are prescribed marijuana for an ailment can go to the new dispensary — which is under family-owned Etain Health — but they must first also register with the Department of Health, obtain an ID card and register with a trained physician, said Steve Stallmer, a spokesman for Etain Health.

The Compassionate Care Act, signed by New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo in September 2014, allows marijuana to be prescribed for specific ailments, according to CNN.

Stallmer said these conditions include Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, cancer and serious spinal cord injury. The marijuana cannot be prescribed in a smokable form, though.

Instead, the marijuana is sold as tinctures (oils), capsules, pen vaporizers and sprays, Stallmer said.

Dessa Bergen-Cico, an associate professor of public health at Syracuse University, said she was pleasantly surprised to hear Syracuse has a dispensary.

“I wasn’t sure if Syracuse would be up for the task,” Bergen-Cico said.

She said there hasn’t been too much advocacy for medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, other than a conference a few years ago that brought together about 100 people.

Stallmer said Etain Health officials chose Syracuse because they wanted a location in the western part of New York state, since Etain’s other locations — Albany and Kingston — are on the eastern side.

The dispensary at 2140 Erie Blvd. E saw only three or four patients on its opening day, which Stallmer said was expected.

“Everything’s going to ramp up,” he said. “It’s been slow to the start at every location.”

Etain Health sells three different brands of marijuana — Dolce, Balance and Forte — Stallmer said. Dolce is high in Cannabidiol (CBD), Balance is equally high in CBD and Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Forte is high in THC, according to Etain Health’s website.

All three brands are sold as tinctures. Dolce and Balance are also sold as capsules, and Balance and Forte are also sold as vaporizers, according to the website.

Bergen-Cico said CBD is a cannabis compound that is particularly helpful for treating seizures. Stallmer said Forte is geared toward people with severe pain, while Dolce is used to help patients “mellow out.”

The effects of marijuana all depend on what the patient’s condition is and how it is being used, Bergen-Cico said.

“Everyone’s chemistry is very different,” she said. “Some people really enjoy (it), some people have a bad reaction.”

Inconsistent production, which is usually found in street-sold, recreational marijuana, can have questionable levels of potency and can cause negative reactions, she said. But, she added, medical marijuana is usually grown in greenhouses, where plants are of uniform height and grow in controlled temperatures. Therefore, the potency in medical marijuana is usually consistent, she said.

Medical marijuana is fairly safe as long as patients know what works for their bodies and take consistent potencies, she added.

Bergen-Cico said the biggest challenge for medical marijuana dispensaries will be state legislation, as well as the need for consistent, reliable access to a medical marijuana supply and increasing the limited number of doctors able to prescribe cannabis.

“Doctors (need to be) informed enough and medically literate to prescribe,” she said. “(It’s) not a part of standard medical school curriculum.”

About 175 doctors are currently signed with Etain Health, but this number is constantly changing, Stallmer said. Etain Health hopes to eventually have around 1,000 doctors, he added.

The new dispensary in Syracuse is currently open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, according to its website. Stallmer said Etain Health, which is one of five registered licensers of medical marijuana in New York state, will be opening its fourth location in Yonkers in a few weeks.

Published on February 9, 2016 at 10:36 pm

Contact Haley: hykim100@syr.edu