Patti Singer, and Khristopher J Brooks

The clusters of chairs and small tables in the waiting area bring to mind a hotel lobby. The counters and islands in the pharmacy make the well-lit, airy space look more like the interior of a high-end jewelry store than a place to buy medication.

Unlike other areas where it took days or weeks for patients to arrive, Columbia Care of New York officials said patients arrived at its medical marijuana dispensary at Eastman Business Park within hours of Thursday's opening.

The company did not release a figure, but the turnout bested opening days in other locations.

“Just to give you a little background, we managed the first dispensary that opened in Washington, D.C.,” Columbia Care chief executive officer Nicholas Vita said Thursday morning. “We were open for a month before we saw our first patient. That’s not unexpected.”

The Rochester dispensary, the third of Columbia Care’s four in the state, officially opened in Building 28, (Theatre on the Ridge) by appointment only on Thursday afternoon. The pharmacy is accessible only to patients who are registered with the state, and patients will be accompanied by a staff person once they are in the dispensing area.

Demand, at least early, remains a question as information about Rochester-area doctors who have registered with the state and the number of local patients who qualify under the state’s stringent rules has not been made public.

NY keeps list of cannabis doctors from public view

“The state to its credit is trying to do things in a very methodical way,” Vita said. “What no one wants to do is get ahead of their skis and trip.”

Columbia Care also operates in Arizona and Massachusetts. Vita addressed the political climate in New York surrounding medical marijuana , the potential for research and the cautious approach of the area’s medical establishment and other topics before the pharmacy opened, which was three weeks after the state launched the medical marijuana program.

Columbia Care is manufacturing its products around the corner in an even more secure area of Eastman Business Park. Vita said more than 25 percent of the total 250,000 square feet is being used or is in development.

He said Columbia Care has two of the five products allowed by the state available. Both are liquid tinctures placed under the tongue.

Approximately 20 people are working in production and the dispensary, and the company continues to interview applicants.

Medication is dispensed by licensed pharmacists who had to complete a state-mandated course in medical marijuana.

The medication, which is not covered by insurance, will cost about 95 cents a dose. Pricing was agreed upon with the state, and Vita said the cost to a patient would range from $100 to $300 a month.Vita said the company has a charity-care program.

Columbia Care delays medical cannabis at ROC dispensary

Which brought the conversation back to how many patients he expected to see.

“Just this morning at Dunkin Donuts, we were talking to someone at the counter and she was a cancer survivor who deals with neuropathy and other issues,” Vita said.

“We think that there will be a process of education but once that education takes place … and once people understand what it is we do and how we do it, we would expect the adoption curve to grow the way we’ve seen in every other market.”

Vita said he had conversations with doctors in the Finger Lakes region who expressed interest in enrolling, but he did not have a specific number or names.

“We know there are doctors who have registered in Monroe County,” he said. “(The state) can’t release the names of physicians without the physician’s permission and I believe they’re working through that process now.”

The University of Rochester Medical Center has several physicians who have registered and others are planning to register so that they can certify patients, according to a statement from Christopher DiFrancesco, associate vice president for communications.

“While we're not planning to provide a list of physicians publicly, we are working on a solution that will help us accommodate patients who have one of the qualifying medical conditions and are interested in being certified,” he wrote. “We also have an internal working group that is addressing the question of whether medical marijuana use would be permitted by patients within Strong Memorial Hospital, and if so, how it would be managed.”

DiFrancesco wrote that URMC expected to have more information in the next 30 days.

Q&A: ROC's medical marijuana operation

Dr. Robert Mayo, chief medical officer of Rochester Regional Health, has said the system does not have an exact number of its physicians who are registered, but it will monitor the situation.

As of Thursday, 306 physicians across the state were registered in the medical marijuana program, according to the state Department of Health website.

While the state is not making the names public, commercial sites such as marijuanadoctors.com and manhattanmarijuanadoctors.com charge a fee to list doctors who can recommend medical marijuana in states where it is legal.

Dr. Len Vilensky, who runs Vilensky Upstate Medicine, a private practice in Pittsford, is debating whether to stay listed on marijuanadoctors.com.

In the first few days his name was on the site, he said his office received about a dozen calls.

“I didn’t realize it was going to snowball,” Vilensky said.

The state health department requires doctors who are certifying patients to have a relationship with the individuals. Vilensky requires prospective patients to submit their medical records and to have at least three appointments so he can assess their condition.

“You cannot be too cautious,” said Vilensky, who is aware that some patients may shop around for a doctor to certify that they qualify. “We need proof of every diagnosis.”

Vilensky, who has practiced pain management for about 10 years, said he plans to discuss medical marijuana with the 30 percent to 40 percent of his existing patients could qualify for the treatment.

As for potential clientele for Columbia Care, Vita said he did not have a number of patients who had been registered with the state.

Asked about the seeming secrecy surrounding the program, Vita said, “When you’re looking at a traditional industry, that may be a reasonable conclusion. But the reality is this is a brand new program, it is a brand new product, it’s a different area of health care than anyone has seen in New York state before.”

Vita said there still is a stigma that medical marijuana is a “gateway to a recreational program and that’s just not the case. Everything we do is designed around the idea that we are treating patients as part of health care solution.”

Now that the dispensary is open, Columbia Care's next goal is to finalize a research partnership with URMC that focuses on how effective marijuana is at helping patients.

Steve Dewhurst, URMC's research vice dean, said the university hopes to sign a research agreement with Columbia Care soon, but gave no specific timetable, adding only "the sooner, the better."

Once completed, Dewhurst said the university is interested in researching all the different marijuana formulas Columbia Care offers. After that, the university wants patients to report the effects of their treatment in real time via a mobile device. This practice is already happening at URMC, Dewhurst added, but it's only done in the orthopedic department.

With real-time data, Dewhurst said physicians will be able to make informed decisions about changing a patient's dosage, changing the marijuana formula or abandoning the treatment altogether.

One of the finer points of the agreement, Dewhurst said, is determining whether patients would report to URMC or to Columbia Care.

Another research area the university wants to explore is marijuana's effects on patients with neurological ailments. Dr. Bradford Berk, URMC's Neurorestorative Institute director, said there are studies that show marijuana helps with neurological pain. The URMC research, Berk said, would look at re-training the brain not to send painful pulses to specific parts of the body.

If it does help, some people who suffer from neurological disorders might be able to do more physical activity.

Vita said Columbia Care is looking forward to research with URMC, but the company wants to first focus on fulfilling remaining state health department requirements and making sure patients get the type of marijuana they need.

PSINGER@Gannett.com

KJBROOKS@Gannett.com

Medical marijuana in New York

The state allows patients with specific conditions to be certified by their doctor to buy medical marijuana. Doctors have to complete a four-hour online course, and patients have to register with the state and pay at $50 fee. Complete information is available at www.health.ny.gov/regulations/medical_marijuana/.