It’s been nearly 18 months since Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation to legalize medical marijuana, and with only a few weeks left before the Compassionate Care Act is due to take effect, the five companies licensed to grow and sell cannabis are rushing to meet the deadline.

The legislation, which has been derided as too restrictive, allows for five growers to stock 20 dispensaries throughout the state’s 55,000 square miles. Under the law, a dispensary can carry up to five different “brands,” or strains of cannabis.

The five companies — Columbia Care, Bloomfield Industries, Etain LLC, PharmaCann LLC, and Vireo Health of New York — have had about four months since being awarded their licenses, on July 31, to set up grow facilities, plant seeds, and harvest their crop. It takes roughly that same amount of time for a cannabis plant to reach maturity.

“I think it’s definitely an ambitious timeline, but one we’ve been able to keep to,” says Hilary Peckham of Etain LLC. She says her company is on schedule, planning to open all four of its dispensaries — in Albany, Ulster, Westchester, and Onondaga — on a rolling basis from the beginning to the end of January. [Read more at the Village Voice]