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New York’s new medical marijuana program has drawn the interest of several major hospitals, which have formed alliances with aspiring growers to try to make the drug accessible to their patients. Friday was the deadline for companies to apply to become one of up to five licensed medical marijuana producers and distributors in the state. The State Health Department said on Friday that it was not yet able to release the number or names of the companies that had applied. But one hospital group, North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, with a heavy presence in and east of New York City, announced that it had applied for a license in partnership with Silverpeak Apothecary, a medical marijuana company based in Colorado, where marijuana has been legalized for medical and recreational use. (Hartocollis,6/5)

North Shore-LIJ Health System, a Long Island operator of 19 hospitals in the state, said on Friday that it is one of the applicants for New York’s new medical-marijuana licenses, lending institutional credibility to a business that has previously had more interest from smaller entrepreneurs. “There’s a lot of perceptual baggage for marijuana,” said Kevin Tracey, president and chief executive of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, the research arm of North Shore-LIJ. “But I think when you put on your health-care-delivery hat, and it’s effective and not dangerous, why wouldn’t a good health-care system want to understand it?” (Ramey, 6/5)