A lawyer for the state's original five medical marijuana manufacturers argued in Albany County Supreme Court on Tuesday that while the state can expand the medical marijuana program, it cannot add additional manufacturers.

Jennifer Kavney Harvey, who is representing the New York Medical Cannabis Industry Association, a trade group representing the top five companies awarded a license to grow and dispense medical marijuana in July 2015, argued in court that the statute that created New York's medical marijuana program in 2014 caps the number of manufacturing entities at five but allows the health commissioner to create additional dispensaries. Harvey is a litigation partner at Albany-based Couch White.

“The commissioner shall register no more than five registered organizations that manufacture medical marijuana with no more than four dispensing sites wholly owned and operated by such registered organizations,” the 2014 law says. “The commission may register additional registered organizations.”