Utica (WSYR-TV) - We have at least six months before medical marijuana will be legally dispensed in New York, but dozens of business owners are throwing their hats in the ring.

Earlier today, Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente took a tour of Brightwaters Farms in Utica.

It is one of the businesses hoping to get one of five state licenses, which will allow the farm to legally grow medical marijuana.

"When you look at what this can do for people in need, for people with medical issues, why wouldn't you support it?" says Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente.

Brightwaters is one of the largest greenhouse operations in the northeast, with 60 acres of land that includes one million feet of greenhouse space.

Washington State, Washington, D.C. and Colorado have blazed the trail for ending prohibition.

Through legal means these areas have adopted the recreational use of marijuana, freed the market for patients, opened the flood gates for entrepreneurs, and tax revenue for the states and districts. Based on research we have complied a list of states that will be vying for ending prohibition and legalization. With an election coming in 2016 all of these states on the list are going to have a measure on the ballot regarding marijuana. These are exciting times, friends. If you live in one of these states, be on the look out in November 2016 to vote for the right thing for our country. Enjoy.

1. California

NEW YORK STATE – The New York State Department of Health will officially select five companies for medical marijuana licenses in mid-July, a spokesman told 2 On Your Side on Wednesday afternoon.

Forty-three companies, hailing from every corner of the state, have applied for the five licenses, which would allow them access to a new and lucrative industry with a potentially enormous payoff. Patients will be able to access the drug in January, when the state's program begins for the first time in history.

The state's Department of Health will choose the five medical marijuana growers in mid-July.

One company has proposed placing a medical marijuana manufacturing facility in the Adirondacks.(Photo: WGRZ)

NEW YORK STATE – The New York State Department of Health will officially select five companies for medical marijuana licenses in mid-July, a spokesman told 2 On Your Side on Wednesday afternoon.

Leading East Coast Trade Show for Legalized and Medical Marijuana Attracts Venture Capitalists, Entrepreneurs and Major Media to Event at the Javits Center

Kalyx Development pays $3 million for complex that previously was water bottling plant

A west Eugene factory that once produced computer hard drives and later bottled water could next become an industrial-scale marijuana growing operation.

The Eugene Water & Electric Board on Friday sold the 107,000-square-foot building at 3590 W. Third Ave. for $3 million, according to a deed filed with Lane County on Friday.

The buyer is Kalyx Develop­ment, a New York City-based marijuana real estate firm.

Kalyx bills itself online as “the premier real estate development provider to emerging indoor agricultural operators on the national level.”

The five winners for New York State licenses to grow, market, and sell medical marijuana could be announced as early as Friday.

The battle to win one of the five licenses for New York State’s new medical marijuana program could be over as early as this Friday, Fortune has learned. While the number of applications the state ended up receiving was far lower than what was earlier reported, the intensity of the competition was much greater than anticipated, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

Oaksterdam University is not an accredited institution, but you might have been fooled if you went to the Capital Hilton here this past weekend.

More than 100 students took part in a 10-session seminar, part of the cannabis college’s focus on education in regions with recently loosened marijuana laws. During one session on Sunday, an instructor flipped through PowerPoint slides about cannabis-extraction methods and wove organic chemistry into one presentation. Meanwhile, attendees — clad in Oaksterdam sweatshirts, tie-dyed T-shirts advertising the marijuana newspaper High Times, and marijuana-leaf tie-clips — dutifully took notes.

Marijuana is the most prevalent drug in the U.S. Approximately 70% of the 2.8 million individuals who initiated use of illicit drugs in 2013 reported that marijuana was their first drug. Despite extensive research examining potential links between marijuana use and other drug use, the literature is currently lacking data regarding which illicit marijuana users are most likely to engage in use of other illicit drugs.

A new study, published in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse by researchers affiliated with New York University’s Center for Drug Use and HIV Research (CDUHR), examines how reasons for illicit marijuana use relates to the use of other drugs individually, rather than grouping them into a single “illicit drug” group.

The way Bronx resident Ari Hoffnung sees it, Schenectady County is the perfect place for a medical marijuana operation.

"There's no way you could do this in New York City," Hoffnung said, gesturing with his hand toward the cavernous, 120,000-square-foot space his firm, Fiorello Pharmaceuticals, has leased at the Glenville Business and Technology Park.