The state of New York has given the green light to legally grow marijuana — in Queens.

The Cuomo administration announced Friday that it has selected five firms to manufacture and dispense marijuana to chronically ill patients at 20 locations across the state.

The marijuana will be grown at five indoor facilities.

Bloomfield Industries will operate a “grow house” in Queens, the state Health Department said in a statement.

The other four pot plant manufacturing plants will be located north of the city — in Orange, Monroe, Warren and Fulton counties.

But not all patients with prescriptions for marijuana will have an easy time getting their cannabis at 20 designated locations.

The New York Department of Health announced Friday the names of five companies chosen to legally grow and sell medical marijuana. Bloomfield Industries, Columbia Care NY, Empire State Health Solutions, Etain and PharmaCann were awarded licenses to manufacture medical cannabis and operate dispensaries at their intended facilities in several countries throughout New York State.

NORTHAMPTON — Local and state officials got a firsthand look this past week at the bounty of cannabis that will serve state-registered patients at medical marijuana dispensaries in Northampton and Brookline later this year.

Senate President Stanley C. Rosenberg, D-Amherst, and state Sen. Karen E. Spilka, D-Ashland, toured New England Treatment Access’ cultivation and production center in Franklin last Friday, while Northampton Mayor David J. Narkewicz made a similar visit Tuesday.

The facility is the source of all medical cannabis products that will be available to patients at NETA’s planned Northampton and Brookline dispensaries, which are slated to open later this year.

Surna Inc (OTCMKTS:SRNA) is moving steadily higher in recent weeks since reversing off $0.0425. This comes after months that Investors would love to forget steadily dropping since a brief pop in January.

On July 14 SRNA announced the expansion into a neighboring, second, facility to substantially increase the Company’s operating footprint.

Two of the five companies selected to grow and sell medical marijuana in New York will open dispensaries in Erie County, the state announced Friday.

But none of the companies selected are from Western New York.

The five licensees are: Bloomfield Industries Inc., Columbia Care NY LLC, Empire State Health Solutions, Etain LLC and PharmaCann LLC. The Health Department released only the company names and the counties where they will set up their manufacturing centers and their dispensaries. The closest manufacturing site will be in Monroe County. Bloomfield Industries and PharmaCann will each have a dispensary in Erie County.

A company in the San Francisco area is delivering bitcoin-purchased medicinal cannabis to customers via drone.

Trees, which claims to sell the "highest quality" medicinal cannabis to people holding a medical recommendation, accepts payments in bitcoin alongside traditional payment methods such as cash, online bank transfer and credit cards.

The service requires users to provide their driving and medical license when ordering. To get medical approval, consumers must have a short evaluation with a doctor, either online or at a clinic.

Banking regulators just said no to a financial institution that aims to be the first to serve the expanding marijuana industry in Colorado.

UPDATE: The op-ed that D.A.R.E published was done by accident, updated article here.

D.A.R.E., the organization designed to plant a deep-seated fear of drugs in the minds of every late-20th-century middle schooler, published an op-ed calling for marijuana legalization.

It’s not easy being the DEA these days. After an unprecedented losing streak on Capitol Hill, the once-untouchable Drug Enforcement Administration suffered last week what might be considered the ultimate indignity: A Senate panel, for the first time, voted in favor of legal, recreational marijuana.

Last Thursday, the Appropriations Committee voted 16-14 on an amendment to allow marijuana businesses access to federal banking services, a landmark shift that will help states like Colorado, where pot is legal, fully integrate marijuana into their economies. As significant as the vote was, it’s only the latest vote in a remarkable run of success marijuana advocates have had this year on Capitol Hill.