The nine-acre greenhouse outside Rochester leased by the Compassionate Care Center of New York is fully operational: It has temperature control and irrigation, and produces flowers, vegetables and, soon, with any luck, marijuana.

It will be no trouble to produce carefully engineered strains of medical marijuana by January, said Lewis Goldberg, a spokesman for the company. That’s when the state’s Department of Health has pledged to have New York’s cannabis program up and running.

In preparation, CCCNY, based in Nassau County, has leased four sites around the state to distribute its products. The company has already unveiled two of its five brands, or strains, of cannabis and will develop others through exclusive partnerships with experienced medical-marijuana companies—Tikun Olam in Israel and MedReleaf in Canada. “Dozens of people” are working to get the company up and running, Mr. Goldberg said.

They’re not alone. Many of New York’s 43 aspiring cannabis growers have leases on cultivation sites and dispensaries, core teams of 20 or more and high-profile partnerships that cross industries and geographic regions. What they all lack is a license to operate. [Read more at Crain’s New York Business]