New York regulators will officially open the state’s cannabis market to all applicants–including big businesses and existing medical marijuana companies–beginning next month, under rules adopted on Tuesday. New retailers could be able to open before the end of this year.
The change is meant to accelerate the slow rollout New York’s new legal marijuana market. However, it has caused outrage amongst smaller growers and applicants for social equity. The state’s ambitious plan, they say, to prioritize small business and companies owned directly by those most affected by prohibition will be undermined.
New York State Cannabis Control Board approved a few resolutions during its latest Meeting. These included the new rules allowing existing medical marijuana dispensaries in the state to transition more quickly to the adult market than originally planned. The New York State Cannabis Control Board (CCB) approved a handful of resolutions at its latest a href=”https://cannabis.ny.gov/cannabis-control-board-meetings” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>meeting/a>, including the new rules allowing existing medical marijuana dispensaries to transition to the adult use market more quickly than originally planned.
Chris Alexander, Executive Director of the Office of Cannabis Management, said in a press release that “today marks the largest expansion of New York’s legal cannabis since legalization. We’ve taken a huge step towards our goal of allowing New Yorkers to access safer, regulated marijuana across the state.” The regulations that were finalized today reflect the robust engagement of stakeholders from across the State, who provided thousands of comments. This final package represents the values of fairness and competition we consider to be central in this market.
The New York State Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has also made changes to the licensing process for medical marijuana businesses. These are known as Registered Organizations (ROs) in New York.
Once the NYBE portal opens, AUCC & AUCP licences with good standing may apply for a transition to non-conditional licensing. They will have 12 months to complete the location documentation and become fully licensed & operating.
NYS Office of Cannabis Management 12 September 2023 HTML0
Retail licenses are currently only available for applicants who meet the requirements of the CAURD (Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary) license program. For an applicant to qualify for this program, they must have “justice-involved” experience, which means that their marijuana-related conviction directly affected them, and have had some business experience. The first licenses for hemp cultivation were given to New York’s pilot program participants.
Expanding the eligibility to participate in the state’s cannabis market will likely speed up the opening of legal businesses, especially in New York City. Even though the state approved adult-use legalization for 2021, only two dozen legal stores have opened in all of New York. While lawsuits temporarily stopped licensing, the issue has become more complicated.
A judge stopped licensing under the CAURD Program last month. This prevented regulators from issuing new conditional adult use recreational dispensary licences or processing any existing ones while a legal challenge by a veterans’ group played out.
The news of the change in timeline was welcomed by those who will benefit.
In a press release, the New York Medical Cannabis Industry Association (NYMCIA), which represents several ROs, including major multi-state operators such as Curaleaf Holdings Inc., Columbia Care, Cresco Laboratories, and others, said that they “applaud” these efforts.
The industry group stated that the CCB’s approval for adult-use regulations demonstrates a positive forward momentum. Today marks an important step in expanding and maintaining the state’s medicinal program, and creating an economically viable and fair adult-use cannabis market in New York. Once this market is up and running it will help to squeeze out illegal operators who put consumers at risk. It will also provide growers more opportunities to sell products and generate tax revenues for communities that are disproportionately affected by the prohibition of cannabis.
The Cannabis Association of New York (CANY), which represents small and medium-sized businesses, condemned CCB’s decision, saying that it had “opened the doors for big cannabis to enter and compete with New York businesses.”
The group called for immediate changes to the regulations, urging that small local growers be given the same canopy space as ROs, in an effort to increase their competitiveness. The group called for lower taxes as well as more enforcement against illegal operators.
In a Tuesday statement, CCB Chair Tremaine Wright described the change as a “defining event for New York State’s commitment to entrepreneurship” and “fostering a truly varied cannabis marketplace.” He added that social equity remained a major concern.
Wright stated that “our commitment to social and financial equity will continue at the forefront,” ensuring that people and communities of all backgrounds are given a fair chance to succeed in this growing industry.
During public comments, CAURD licensees and small-scale cannabis growers expressed their frustration with regulators who made changes that would increase competition from large-scale companies.
Freshly Baked NYC’s founder and CEO said that MSOs were looking to take advantage of the market opportunities we had been promised. If they are not checked, MSOs will unfairly dominate this industry, nullifying all of our efforts and investments.
One person said that equity businesses could have been more successful if they had opened illegal stores. He told CCB’s members that they were hurting the people most. “The CAURDs were better off had they opened illegal stores.”
Many in the audience applauded.
Several speakers urged Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), who is the governor, should call a special session of Congress to bring back lawmakers to try to codify CAURD. They said that would put an end to the lawsuits against the CAURD program and enable conditional licensing.
One grower said she had grown over 500 pounds of marijuana that was “sitting rotting” right now, due to a lack legal places to buy it.
A second grower pointed out that September is the month of suicide awareness. She said she had recently called the police to conduct a wellness check for a colleague, and knew another member in her industry who was also undergoing a crisis intervention due to ongoing business challenges. She said, “This is not a joke.” “We are in serious trouble,” she said. Please do what is right. “Give the farmers a fighting shot at survival.”
Dasheeda Dawson is a medical marijuana user and founder of the municipal marijuana agency Cannabis NYC. She told state regulators in New York City that over 200 CAURD licensees have been approved provisionally.
She said: “I am standing here to say firmly ‘no’ to RO and to stand by the CAURD licencees.”
Dawson warned that the building of an equitable cannabis industry will be messy. She said that the government has never supported social equity or Black and Brown. “We literally are doing what America has not done before.”
She added, “Many people have made comments about what would happen if big companies were allowed to enter this industry.” “That will probably happen anyway.”
The proposed accelerated timetable has been discussed for months. In a May preview, it was suggested that the first colocated medical and adult-use marijuana dispensary would open in December this year. Later openings are expected to occur by mid-2024.
A state Senate marijuana panel held a hearing last week to discuss the challenges of New York’s rollout . Sen. Jeremy Cooney, who was named to lead the Senate’s first cannabis panel this year described the hearing on October 30 as an opportunity to “finally address many challenges we have seen in the rollout for adult-use cannabis” here in New York.
Cooney stated last month that the judge’s decision to stop new cannabis licenses until the legal challenge is resolved, he was “disappointed”.
He said that it was no secret that New York’s adult-use marijuana rollout had been slower than anticipated. Now is not the right time to stand in front of progress. “We must concentrate on awarding nonconditional licenses which will prioritize social equality candidates and allow for more businesses to be opened.”
In an effort to increase consumer access to marijuana that is legal, New York regulators launched the Cannabis Growers Showcase, a program of the Office of Cannabis Management.
accepted applications as soon as approved the program. On August 10, the Hudson Valley hosted its first pop-up. Another was held near the state fair.
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Photo by Mike Lat
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