The 158 medical marijuana dispensary hopefuls will continue with the second phase of the application process over the next month in a battle royale that will render only 35 applicants fit for business. Per state regulations, only five dispensaries will be allowed for each Massachusetts county.

Candidates have until November 21 to submit the required paperwork to open their respective non-profit dispensary, and the paperwork can be found via the press release here.

Already, phase one of the process weeded out 23 applicants to bring the current total down to 158 from the initial bundle of 181. According to MassLive, “For the first time, the department also said it expected to announce an award of licenses on Jan. 31.” It’s expected to take about four months from the time an applicant receives their license to when they finally open up shop.

As for the Department of Public Health’s next-tier requirements, “Phase 2 applications will be evaluated by a selection committee and scored on such factors as, “ability to meet the health needs of registered patients, appropriateness of the site, geographic distribution of dispensaries, local support, and plans to ensure public safety.”

The Department has further scheduled an informal public hearing on Thursday, October 10, for applicants likely to hash out any ambiguous items and answer any questions those in the mix may have.

Some groups have already undertaken early steps in order to line up medical marijuana growers, and likely consumers for that matter, to one day supply their dispensaries with the appropriate volume of inventory, though none will make any real headway until firmer laws are enacted by the state legislature.

Here the Department’s instructions on how applicants can go about completing the required phase 2 application forms:

1. Go to www.comm-pass.com.
2. Click on the link for “Search for a Solicitation”.
3. Enter “401620 NOA 2” in the Document Number box and click the “Search” button.
4. A link will appear at the top of the page saying “There are 1 Solicitation(s) found that match your search criteria.”
5. Click on that link and a page will appear with the document name, number and a “view” icon (eye glasses).
6. Click on the eye glasses and the summary screen will appear.
7. Click on the “Intent” tab to find the application documents and a Q&A for the Phase 2 application process.