WTOP’s Mark Segraves broke the news yesterday — 17 hopeful medical marijuana dispensers submitted applications for licenses to the D.C. Department of Health this week.

Their applications are the second of a two-step process for getting the city’s medical marijuana program off the ground; 28 applications for cultivation centers were submitted in late September, the majority clustered in Ward 5.

Ultimately, five dispensaries will be chosen to distribute marijuana to qualifying patients. So far, we’ve only got a hint as to where one might be located — Barracks Row — while others will likely be more well-distributed across the city than the proposed cultivation centers.

The Department of Health will weigh all the applications before submitting them for consideration to ANCs in affected areas. The final awarding of the licenses will take place at some point during the first three months of 2012.

In related news, Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. (D-Ward 5) confirmed yesterday that he’ll be introducing emergency legislation on December 6 that would cap the number of cultivation centers in Ward 5. Councilmember Vincent Orange (D-At Large) has agreed to sign on to the measure, but that leaves Thomas looking for seven more votes to get the legislation passed.

Finally — because how can we not mention this? — Republican presidential contender Herman Cain has announced that he’s okay with state-led medical marijuana programs.