Photo used under a Creative Commons license with JosephAdams.

After last week’s D.C. Council vote on limits to the number of medical marijuana cultivation centers in any one ward, hopeful applicants have been left in the dark as to how the Department of Health will proceed with locating both cultivation centers and dispensaries.

The Washington Times reports today the new limits — which could leave only eight of the 10 planned cultivation centers to open — would hamstring the entire program and leave qualifying patients without their needed medical marijuana:

Mike Liszewski, policy director for Americans for Safe Access, said concerns have been raised that the D.C. program, which has a 95-plant limit per registration, was too conservative to meet the estimated demand among patients.

“Limiting the number of cultivation sites will only exacerbate that problem,” he said.

Officials from the D.C. Department of Health have not responded to repeated requests as to how they will continue implementing the medical marijuana program.

In the wake of continuing concerns over further delays, medical marijuana entrepreneurs will gather at a private symposium next week to discuss how to manage the District’s strict regulations, exchange best practices and learn of the potential pitfalls of entering into a business that remains illegal federally.

According to Jason Klein, a local attorney who has launched a law practice focused specifically on medical marijuana, 35 people have currently agreed to attend, including 21 of the 29 businesses that submitted applications for cultivation centers or dispensaries.

City officials have said that medical marijuana should be available later this year.