New York cannabis regulators extend licensing deadline, approve emergency regulations

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New York’s Cannabis Control Board extended deadlines for general marijuana licensing applications and granted the Office of Cannabis Management additional enforcement authority during the board’s first meeting since the application period began.

Early in the Tuesday morning meeting, OCM Executive Director Chris Alexander told board members that thousands of applications for all cannabis business license types have poured into the agency since the application period opened Oct. 4.

“We’ve received a significant amount of interest from New Yorkers and from interested applicants across the country,” Alexander said. “A two-week extension would give more folks an opportunity to apply.”

Under the original timeline, the window for most applicants would close on Dec. 4, and the expedited application period for retailers or microbusinesses who have already secured a location would close on Nov. 3. The new timeline, which CCB members approved on Tuesday, extends those deadlines to Dec. 18, and Nov. 17, respectively.

Additionally, OCM General Counsel Linda Baldwin sought approval from board members for emergency enforcement regulations meant to reduce the burden of proof needed to determine a business is illegally selling weed.

The board approved the new rules, which now mandate that businesses that receive a notice of violation from the OCM have five days to respond with a “certificate of compliance” form that says they’ve stopped the alleged illegal activity. If a business does not provide OCM staff with the certificate, agency officials may infer during a hearing that the business has continued the alleged illegal sales.

If a business sends the certificate of compliance, but inspectors later find they are still selling weed without a license, OCM officials may assume in a hearing that the illegal sales never stopped.

“The burden on us to go back every single day in order to prove noncompliance is far too great,” Baldwin said. “This certificate of noncompliance allows the business to inform us that they have, in fact, complied with the order.”

Regulations allow the OCM to impose fines up to $20,000 per day on businesses that sell marijuana without a license.

Presenting an update on legal cannabis sales, OCM Director of Policy John Kagia said retailers sold $51 million worth of cannabis products between July and September, and a total of $81 million in the past year.

Kagia said growers, processors and retailers have held 142 Cannabis Growers Showcase events since August, and the OCM has approved an additional 1,250 scheduled by the end of the year. These events have generated $1.5 million in sales, which is about equivalent to the amount of sales revenue he’d expect two dispensaries to collect during that time period. Flower products accounted for 52% of sales at CGS events, Kagia said, but customers appear to also heavily gravitate toward edibles, which represent 20% of the sales.

The CGS program has been successful in driving demand for legal weed – especially in regions with few or no legal dispensaries – and has become an important opportunity for growers and processors to sell their products, Kagia said.

He also noted that five CAURD dispensaries, which received exemptions from a current court injunction, are scheduled to open in coming days (one being delivery-only).

The CGS events operating alongside the increasing number of dispensaries “is going to bring much needed relief for our growers,” Kagia said. “We are going to petition for exemptions for our retailers, because this is a critical, critical part of stimulating our supply chain.”

However, during a public comment period at the end of Tuesday’s CCB meeting, multiple CAURD licensees said they remain in the dark when it comes to the court injunction preventing them from opening stores.

Also during the public comment period, CJ. Segal-Isaacson of the Cannabis Farmers Alliance took issue with CCB Chair Tremain Wright’s characterization of an exchange between Wright and CFA member Jeanette Miller during the board’s September meeting.

At the beginning of Tuesday’s meeting, Wright referred to an “incident that took place” at the September meeting, which has led the OCM and CCB to ask people who attend meetings to “adhere to a standard of behavior that reflects the board’s and the office’s value of inclusivity and equity,” Wright said.

“This includes … avoiding behaviors that are disrespectful or disruptive or reflect racial or other biases in any way,” Wright said.

During Tuesday’s public comment period, Segal-Isaacson said Wright was referring to a portion of Miller’s September comments, in which she invoked suicidality and took a string tied around her neck and presented it to the board. After the meeting, Segal-Isaacson said, Wright approached Miller and accused her of racism.

“In her comments to the CCB, Ms. Miller was clearly speaking about her own desperation as a cannabis farmer … there was no suggestion the board should also hang themselves,” Segal-Isaacson said. “CFA as an organization, and Ms. Miller as an individual, have a commitment to diversity and fairness.”