Every day I see people during the worst moments of their lives. As an emergency room doctor, I see the victims of violence, disease and age at their most vulnerable.

During one of my more depressing shifts, a nine-year-old girl (let’s call her Nancy) came into the emergency room with an arm broken at a 90 degree angle. On that same night, a drug-seeking patient (let’s call him Richard) came into the hospital for the fifth time that month with the same concocted excuse.

While I worked on Richard’s fake ailments, I was unable to alleviate Nancy’s excruciating pain. She suffered with little more than a stuffed animal to comfort her because Richard needed his fix.

Dr. Laszlo Mechtler, medical director of Dent Neurologcal Institute, says when it comes to prescribing medical marijuana, “We want to go by the book. ... with medical marijuana, there is no book.”

The Dent Neurologic Institute in Amherst receives as many as 100 calls a day about medical marijuana, and for good reason.

Of the 226 doctors certified to recommend marijuana in New York State as of last week, 12 of them work at Dent.

Dent wants to be on the leading edge of using and researching marijuana for treatment in Western New York. But don’t expect a flood of recommendations for their patients to use the drug, said Dr. Laszlo Mechtler, Dent’s medical director.

CHURCHVILLE, N.Y. -- The state's foray into medical marijuana is slow going. As of Saturday, fewer than half of the dispensaries across the state are open.

"Are you going to go see Dr. Berg in a couple of weeks," Christine Emerson asked her daughter Julia. "What's he going to get for you?"

"My medicine," Julia Emerson smiled.

For 9-year-old Julia, medical marijuana would mean turning over a new leaf.

"She has what's called retractable epilepsy, or medicine resistant epilepsy, so we have trailed 14 medicines that have made her worse or not helped her at all," Christine explained.

The last few options could possibly leave Julia losing her peripheral vision, or developing aplastic anemia. It's left the family with one option: medical marijuana.

WHITE PLAINS  When medical marijuana became available this month in New York, Brittany Barger was one of the first patients to navigate the state’s rules and make it through a dispensary door.

“When you’re as sick as I am, you’ll try anything,” said Barger, who has ovarian cancer that has spread through her 27-year-old body.

New York’s program — one of the strictest out of the 23 states that allow medical marijuana — has had a widely anticipated slow beginning, but there are signs it’s gaining momentum.

MOUNT KISCO - Shortly after New York’s first medical marijuana dispensaries started dispensing, one Westchester village began looking to place limits on where the new businesses are allowed to open their well-secured doors.

There is no dispensary planned for Mount Kisco, but Mayor J. Michael Cindrich said officials are looking to tweak the village zoning code and considering requiring a special permit for any applicants looking for a marijuana-related use.

“My opinion is that the use can be regulated, but it can’t be banned in its entirety,” he said.

One of the first patients to receive medical marijuana in New York is telling her story.

Brittany Barger, 27, was diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer more than a year ago and said she turned to medical marijuana as a last resort.

“My body hasn’t reacted the way I wanted it to for chemo,” Barger said. “I can’t do surgery because it’s way too dangerous, and if I can come here and get some type of relief, and I feel like this is my choice.”

Barger said she was tired of taking dozens of pills that only made her feel worse and with the help of her doctor, she obtained marijuana capsules at the Vireo Health Dispensary in White Plains last Thursday.

Just days after the launch of New York’s medical marijuana program, theUniversity at Buffalo has announced a new research initiative into medicinal cannabis in partnership with Citiva LLC.

With $1.65 million in funding from Citiva, UB’s Center for Integrated Global Health Sciences will work to develop new approaches to advance the study of medicinal cannabis and lead to greater knowledge on the therapeutic efficacy of cannabinoids in medicine.

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By Anne Wallace

Kieran Doyle, partner at the New York firm of Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, recently shared insights with MJINews about the particular challenge of securing trademark protection for cannabis products.

GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN and SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Jan 12, 2016) -Heliospectra AB (OTCQB: HLSPY) (FIRSTNORTH:HELIO), a world leader in intelligent lighting technology for plant research and greenhouse cultivation, is pleased to announce that it has been invited to present at the Viridian Cannabis Investor Symposium in New York City on January 13, 2016.

Brittany Barger, the first patient to receive medical cannabis at the Vireo Health of New York's White Plains Dispensary(Photo: Mark Vergari/The Journal News)Buy Photo

When Brittany Barger was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, the then 26-year-old New Yorker mourned the death of a life she had mapped out.

Then she regrouped and focused on the life ahead of her.

Barger persevered when chemotherapy left her in constant pain and homebound. Even when going to the movies, taking walks and visiting friends became forgotten luxuries, she fought the disease.

Barger, now 27, spoke Tuesday after becoming one of New York’s first medical marijuana patients. She started buying the drug last week at Vireo Health of New York’s dispensary in downtown White Plains.