Etain hopes to transition medical pot to adult use
When her grandmother was diagnosed with ALS and prescribed a trove of side effect-inducing medications, Hillary Peckham and her family began looking into medical marijuana for its homoeopathic properties. It was during their research that the Westchester County natives were struck with an idea for a familyowned business.
A few years later, Peckham, alongside her mother and her sister, founded Etain, one of the first five companies to receive a license to operate under New York’s medical marijuana program that launched in 2015. Now, as the state slowly rolls out its adult-use marijuana guidelines, the company is hoping to make a splash in the newly emerging recreational market before it’s too late.
“Our vision is to be able to get the Etain brand into the adult-use market and scale it so we can be one of the major brands that are recognized and important to New York,” said Peckham, who managed the rollout of Etain’s manufacturing and dispensing operations throughout the state.
The company runs retail medical marijuana dispensaries in Manhattan, Syracuse, Kingston and Yonkers. It closed its Albany dispensary in 2017 to establish a location in New York City in accordance with state law that sets a limit of four dispensaries per medical marijuana company.
For the past 8 years, Etain has been recognized as the only women-owned medical marijuana provider in the state, a designation it forfeits with the recent $247 million acquisition of the company by Canadian-based investment company RIV Capital.
But despite Peckham’s mother, Amy Peckham, relinquishing her position as CEO to take a spot on the company board, Hillary Peckham emphasized that Etain’s mission of promoting women’s leadership and consumerism in the industry remains the same.
As the new face of the brand, Peckham said she and her sister, Keeley, are focused on continuing to prioritize inclusivity and diversity within the company while spearheading its transition to the market for recreational cannabis, which was legalized in New York in March 2021.
“What you see a lot in the adult-use industry is consumers who are looking for alternative treatments, whether its joint pain or for sleep at night. There’s a lot of health and wellness reasons to utilize cannabis and I think that’s where the medical program aligns well,” the Hamilton College graduate said.
But while the new recreational adult-use industry brings lucrative opportunities for growth, it also presents challenges to companies like Etain who rely on participation in the state’s medical marijuana program to turn a profit. To purchase medical marijuana, consumers first need a patient certification from a physician whose registered with the state program. Once they receive the recommendation, they can then apply for a state registry card. The state-issued ID card is free, but the cost of seeing a doctor enrolled in the program can cost upwards of $100, depending on the provider.
At the start of 2022, the Daily Gazette reported there were 150,000 people registered in the program. As of Jan. 1, that number dropped to 122,805, according to the NY Office of Cannabis Management.
With fewer consumers taking advantage of the medicinal market, Etain’s foray into the recreational world is its only way to survive as the industry evolves, Peckham said. “The competitive landscape has changed a lot and there’s difficulty building desire for the medical program.”
Their biggest competition is illicit shops that sell without a license, often at a cheaper price point.
The company is anxiously waiting for state regulators to announce final guidelines on how they can enter the recreational sector. In the meantime, Peckham has shifted focus toward educating consumers on the benefits of enrolling in the medical program. For one, there is greater accessibility to their products due to more medical stores being open, Peckham said. Customers won’t have to compete with the long lines and crowds she expects to encumber recreational dispensaries in their early stages of operation. Medical marijuana providers are also held to much higher quality standards and offer a more expansive range of products, she said.
For example, Peckham pointed to Housing Works Cannabis Co., the state’s first legal recreational pot dispensary that opened in Manhattan late last month. The store offers four product types — pre-rolls, raw flower, edibles, and vapes and cartridges — compared to Etain’s menu, which also includes capsules, oral sprays, tinctures, vaporizers, dissolvable powders, lotions and lozenges.
“There’s integrity and there’s a trust that you can have in our products that we’re trying to do things in a way that is benefiting the patient and to make sure that it’s as healthy as possible for the end consumer,” Peckham said.
Those with a medical marijuana ID can try out the brand’s array of products which are categorized based on their concentration of CBD, THC and other cannabinoids. High CBD concentrations promote relaxation and anti-inflammation without feelings of euphoria and can be used to treat ailments from epilepsy to diseases like Huntington’s and Parkinson’s.
On the other end of the spectrum are high THC concentrations, which provide strong sensations of euphoria and can provide relief for those suffering from nausea, chronic pain and other neurodegenerative diseases.