pot pharmacy, which is prohibited
from hawking anything
someone can light up and
smoke under the medical-marijuana
program state legislators
enacted in 2014.
Customers must present
their state-issued medicalmarijuana
SUGARY DRINKS
CONTRIBUTE TO
INCREASING RATES
OF HEART DISEASE
AND TYPE 2 DIABETES
IN CHILDREN, TEENS
AND ADULTS.
Restaurants can help
reverse this trend by
making healthy drinks
like milk and water the
default drink option on
children’s menus.
#servekidsbetternyc
BY COLIN MIXSON
It’s high time!
Brooklyn’s fi rst medicalmarijuana
dispensary opened
across the street from the Barclays
Center on Dec. 30, offi -
cially starting the sales of legal,
weed-based remedies in
the borough, according to a
spokeswoman for the facility.
Qualifying patients registered
with the state’s Department
of Health will fi nd the
shelves at Citiva stocked with
reefer-derived oils, vape pens,
pills, and even topical salves
designed to instantly soothe
sore muscles, according to the
company’s president Michael
Quattrone.
The strains of medicinal
pot sold at the facility are bred
to produce a variety of effects,
with some causing highs more
physical than psychological,
Quattrone said.
But customers who visit the
store at 202 Flatbush Ave. between
Dean and Bergen streets
cannot purchase their Mary
Jane as a plant or any wacky
tobacky–infused edibles at the
97% of kids’ restaurant meals are unhealthy.
With families eating out more often, it’s time
for restaurants to serve kids better.
COURIER L 6 IFE, JAN. 11–17, 2019 M B G
cards to employees
before entering the dispensary
on the Park Slope–Prospect
Heights border, which
Quattrone described as more
day spa than a smoke shop.
“We were kind of going for
a modern-day apothecary with
a Brooklyn vibe,” he said.
New York State’s medicalmarijuana
policy is much
stricter than those of other
states, and qualifying patients
must suffer from diseases on
a short list of debilitating illnesses
— which include AIDS,
epilepsy, multiple sclerosis,
post-traumatic-stress disorder,
infl ammatory-bowel disease,
and Parkinson’s disease
— or be diagnosed with
chronic pain.
The more than 100 borough
physicians trained and
certifi ed to prescribe medicinal
weed can also do so in
lieu of prescribing opioids ,
which caused roughly 1,075 of
the city’s 1,300 drug-overdose
deaths in 2016, data shows, but
are less deadly in states with
medical-cannabis programs,
according to the state Health
Department.
But those Brooklynites sick
enough to qualify for medical
marijuana may fi nd the drug
too expensive to afford, because
insurance companies
will not foot the bill for it as
long as weed remains illegal
under federal law, forcing patients
to pay out of pocket for
pot-based pain relievers.
NOW OPEN: A Citiva employee is
ready to serve patients of Brooklyn’s
fi rst medical-marijuana
dispensary, which is located on
Flatbush Avenue on the Park
Slope–Prospect Heights border.
Photo by Colin Mixson
SWANKY: Products line the shelves of the dispensary that operators described
as more day spa than smoke shop. Citiva
They’re in pot luck!
Boro’s fi rst medical-marijuana dispensary opens