Westchester County Business Journal 061917

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7, 27 | LAW LUMINARIES JUNE 19, 2017 | VOL. 53, No. 25

YOUR ONLY SOURCE FOR REGIONAL BUSINESS NEWS

13 | BRIdging the gap westfaironline.com

Nuclear waste a menace ‘for millennia to come’ FORUM DISCUSSES INDIAN POINT DECOMMISSIONING

BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH rdeffenbaugh@westfairinc.com

A Disaster Docs

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Dr. Robert W. Amler, dean of the School of Health Sciences and Practice at New York Medical College, examines a Wifi-operated patient simulator at the school’s Center for Disaster Medicine. Photo by Ryan Deffenbaugh.

n age of nuclear power may be winding down, but the age of nuclear waste has just begun. That was the opening message, from Gordon Edwards, at a conference in Garrison on June 9 to discuss the decommissioning of Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan. The nuclear plant is expected to close by 2021 as part of a legal settlement between

the plant’s owner and operator, Entergy Corp., and the state government. Edwards is president of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility. He and a group of about a dozen nuclear experts and environmental advocates gathered at the recent forum to discuss Indian Point’s decommissioning and nuclear waste storage. The event, which drew about 100 people to the basement of the Desmond-Fish Library, was co-sponsored by Hudson River » NUCLEAR, page 6

Deal buzz: $17M paid for New York pot grower in Purchase BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH rdeffenbaugh@westfairinc.com

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alley Agriceuticals LLC, a Purchasebased company that has conditional approval for a New York medical marijuana license, will be acquired by a New York and Toronto-based cannabis company that already operates in multiple states. iAnthus Capital Holdings Inc.

on June 12 announced the signing of a letter of intent for the $17 million deal. The acquisition will expand iAnthus’ portfolio into five regulated cannabis states in the U.S., which the company said is the largest footprint among public companies focused on licensed cannabis operations. iAnthus will acquire Gloucester Street Capital LLC and its wholly owned subsidiaries, Valley Agriceuticals LLC and Valley Agriceuticals Real Estate

LLC. The deal includes $2.3 million in cash and $15 million in iAnthus shares, priced at $2 per share. Valley Agriceuticals has already broken ground on a cultivation campus in Wallkill, a 136acre property zoned to allow a 6,500-square-foot plant cultivation and processing facility. Upon final approval from the state Department of Health, Valley Ag will be licensed for one cultivation and processing facility and four dispensaries. The company said it expects to supplement its cultivation facility with a 14,500-squarefoot hybrid greenhouse. Valley Ag was not awarded one of the first five medical marijuana licenses from the state in 2015, but the Department of Health announced in February

that the program would expand to 10 licenses. The state will use a phased-in approach to license the companies that scored sixth through 10th in the initial application process. Valley Ag scored 8th. The company received conditional approval in May for the state license and expects be fully approved this summer. Valley Ag anticipates that it can plant its first crop by the end of this year. The company plans to produce pharmaceutical-grade standardized medical marijuana deliverable through oils, pills, inhaler pens and other delivery mechanisms. It can sell those products through its dispensaries, branded as Origin Health Centers. The dispensaries are expected to open early next year, according to the company’s press release.

New York’s medical marijuana program began registering patients in 2015 and was up to 21,000 patients as of June 6. iAnthus said New York’s accelerated patient growth since March, when the state approved chronic pain as a qualifying condition for treatment with medical marijuana, made it an especially attractive market. The state Senate is also considering a bill that would add posttraumatic stress disorder as a qualifying condition. “With a population of nearly 20 million residents, a rapidly growing patient base and only 10 medical cannabis licenses, New York is an ideal market for iAnthus to enter,” said Randy Maslow, » CANNABIS, page 6


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