NEW YORK, July 31, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A statement from AXIM Biotechnologies (OTC:AXIM), an innovative biotechnology company:

Minnesota Medical Solutions, one of two Minnesota medical marijuana producers, is expanding to the state of New York.

The company started sales earlier this month in Minnesota, and was one of five successful bidders to provide similar products in New York.

The New York branch, Empire State Health Solutions, will be run by the same Minnesota physician, Dr. Kyle Kingsley.

Kingsley said Empire State Health Solutions will be developing a growing and manufacturing operation in Perth, in central New York state.

A Syracuse-based company is looking to turn the vacant Giant Food Mart building in Johnson City into a cultivation center for medical marijuana.(Photo: Getty Images)

A planned facility to manufacture marijuana in Broome County went up in smoke Friday as the New York Department of Health passed over a Syracuse-based company’s bid to grow a medicinal form of the drug in Johnson City.

Salus Scientific lost out on one of the five winning slots for the lucrative rights to manufacture and dispense medical marijuana in New York, and with it the 200 local jobs the company estimated they would have brought to the area.

ALBANY — Mirroring a national trend toward an acceptance of marijuana, the New York State Department of Health announced the names of five organizations on Friday that will be allowed to sell the drug for medical use in the state.

The organizations will be registered with the state, and each will be allowed to open up to four so-called dispensaries statewide. They are required to be doing business within six months, meaning medical marijuana could be on sale in New York before the end of the year.

The state of New York has given the green light to legally grow marijuana — in Queens.

The Cuomo administration announced Friday that it has selected five firms to manufacture and dispense marijuana to chronically ill patients at 20 locations across the state.

The marijuana will be grown at five indoor facilities.

Bloomfield Industries will operate a “grow house” in Queens, the state Health Department said in a statement.

The other four pot plant manufacturing plants will be located north of the city — in Orange, Monroe, Warren and Fulton counties.

But not all patients with prescriptions for marijuana will have an easy time getting their cannabis at 20 designated locations.

Surna Inc (OTCMKTS:SRNA) is moving steadily higher in recent weeks since reversing off $0.0425. This comes after months that Investors would love to forget steadily dropping since a brief pop in January.

On July 14 SRNA announced the expansion into a neighboring, second, facility to substantially increase the Company’s operating footprint.

Two of the five companies selected to grow and sell medical marijuana in New York will open dispensaries in Erie County, the state announced Friday.

But none of the companies selected are from Western New York.

The five licensees are: Bloomfield Industries Inc., Columbia Care NY LLC, Empire State Health Solutions, Etain LLC and PharmaCann LLC. The Health Department released only the company names and the counties where they will set up their manufacturing centers and their dispensaries. The closest manufacturing site will be in Monroe County. Bloomfield Industries and PharmaCann will each have a dispensary in Erie County.

Moncton, N.B. July 30, 2015 – OrganiGram Holdings Inc. (TSX-V: OGI) (OTC US:OGRMF) (the “Company”) is today releasing financial statements for the 9-month period ended May 31st, 2015.  The Company’s quarterly financial statements and Management’s Discussion and Analysis document are available on SEDAR.

Banking regulators just said no to a financial institution that aims to be the first to serve the expanding marijuana industry in Colorado.

Oregon residents will be able to buy marijuana for recreational use starting in October, about a year earlier than originally expected, under a new law backers hope will help curb the black market, state officials said on Wednesday.

The law, signed Monday by Democratic Governor Kate Brown, will effectively let adults visit existing medical-use marijuana dispensaries in the state to buy certain strains just to get stoned.

Possessing and growing pot became legal in July after voter approval in a November referendum, and the state expects to start accepting applications in January for recreational pot retail stores likely to open by the fall.