It won't be as obvious as when the pizza person shows up, but customers of Columbia Care’s dispensary in Rochester can get medical marijuana delivered to their door.

For the past several weeks, the company has been testing a program to deliver the tinctures, vaporization oils or capsules to patients in western New York.

Columbia Care is one of five medical marijuana manufacturers licensed by New York, and it operates four dispensaries in various regions. The company also has dispensaries in Manhattan, Long Island and Plattsburgh. It chose to run its pilot delivery program from the dispensary at Eastman Business Park out of convenience to patients and relative ease of getting around the region.

“We found that patients travel the farthest in that part of the state to come to us,” said Nicholas Vita, Columbia Care’s chief executive officer and vice chairman. “The need was most obvious there. Second, it’s an environment that doesn’t have the complexity of New York City, where you have so many more opportunities to make mistakes. Our idea was to start in an area where we knew the landscape very well and could solve the greatest need immediately.”

Vita did not give a time frame for when the other dispensaries will start delivering, other than to say it could happen in “short order. ... What I've heard from the team and other sources is that the pilot has gone very well.”

With medical marijuana tightly regulated in New York, Columbia Care has operated for the most part out of public view. Its growing operation is behind the brick walls of Building 18 of what used to be Kodak Park, and its dispensary is behind buzzers and opaque glass in Building 28 (Theatre on the Ridge).

Details of the delivery system are similarly shrouded.

Vita said a team has been trained on security and the company’s delivery policy was approved by the state.

“There are a number of aspects of the plan that we don’t discuss in a public forum,” he said. “You can imagine it’s designed to be very secure. It’s designed to be very low visibility.”

Vita declined to say whether there would be a delivery fee. Medical marijuana is not covered by insurance, and Vita said he expected the price to drop over the next 12 months. However, he said the company does not disclose prices so there was no context. According to the state, prices vary by company, and each has the option of offering discounts. 

Vita said that depending on a patient's needs, a supply could last from a week to a month.

Vita said home delivery affects a small portion of customers, and he said it was unclear whether the option would mean more business. “We are aware of a number of customers that are homebound. We hope this provides access to medicine in a very approachable way. I don’t think it will have a dramatic impact on our business but I think it will have a dramatic impact on our customer service and our ability to live up to the mission of the company.”

Patients who think they qualify for medical marijuana have to be certified by a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant who has passed a course and registered with the health department.  A physician assistant can certify patients only if the supervising doctor also is registered to do so.

Vita said he has heard that finding a registered professional is becoming less of a barrier. “What we’ve seen is institutions taking a very methodical approach in supporting the program.”