Highlighting New Yorkers looking for green in state’s medical marijuana reform

This new New York Times article, headlined “Medical Marijuana Feeds Familiar Hopes of Renewal Around New York State,” spotlights some folks looking to make hay out of making medical marijuana in the Empire State. Here are excerpts:

[W]hen a stranger came to town and announced plans to grow marijuana on the fallow land next to his, Mr. Crawford was thrilled. “It’s better than a bunch of houses,” he said.

And it would be legal. The prospective farmer, Erik Holling, a former chief operating officer of a technology company, is vying to become one of five registered producers of medical marijuana — or medical cannabis, the term favored by those in the trade — permitted under a New York State law coming into effect.

The enthusiastic local reception that Mr. Holling’s company, Valley Agriceuticals, has received offers a case study in how the public perception of medical marijuana has changed, and how some communities have come to view it as a potential economic boon….

The competition for the marijuana licenses resembles the recent jockeying among those competing to operate casinos in New York, as a newly legal enterprise is welcomed as a potential lifeline in economically underserved areas, where local officials are eager to look beyond any stain of disrepute.