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Happy weekend everyone. As we head to the end of 2023, NY Cannabis Insider covered some important stories on the Empire State’s weed industry. Let’s take a look at what we covered.
On Monday, NY Cannabis Insider looked at the fallout of the lawsuit spearheaded by Carmine Fiore and three other service-disabled veterans, which led to an injunction that barred hundreds of CAURD businesses from opening for nearly four months.
In an exclusive interview following the settlement and resumption of the CAURD program, Fiore told NY Cannabis Insider that he believes veterans would have been ignored if not for the litigation. Among other service-disabled veterans in the state’s weed industry, opinion is split.
We also ran an article that examined how those within New York’s cannabis industry felt about the terms of the settlement between state regulators and plaintiffs in the Fiore case.
Several stakeholders criticized the Office of Cannabis Management for making decisions that created legal vulnerability and agreeing to a settlement that, they believe, may encourage more people to sue. Others expressed relief that CAURD licensees could move forward with opening their stores.
We ran a long-form profile focused on New York State Cannabis Connect and the creators of the platform: Tiffany Walters and Jumaane Hughes.
In her 39 years, Walters has developed expertise from industries ranging from cannabis to communications to child care, which have enabled her and her partner, Hughes, to build a statewide cannabis training and information platform that could become a key driver of workforce development in New York’s legal cannabis industry.
Reporter Mel Hyman contributed a story about reactions in New York’s cannabis community to OCM’s decision to discontinue Cannabis Growers Showcase events, one of the few initiatives that cannabis licensees have roundly praised as a success.
Since its inception in late summer, the CGS program has generated more than $4 million in sales, according to the OCM. The agency’s rationale for winding them down before the end of the year is the slew of new retail dispensaries expected to open over the next few weeks and months, making CGS events moot.
We ran another story by Hyman, which took a look at how cannabis retail applications are swamping cities in New York State with paperwork.
The surge coincides with the open enrollment period for adult-use cannabis cultivator, processor, distributor and retail dispensary license applications. The OCM opened the application period on Oct. 4, and it will close on Dec. 18 at 5 p.m.
In a guest column Scott Mazza, co-founder of Buffalo-based Vitality CBD, wrote about what the federal Farm Bill extension means for CBD producers, consumers, regulators.
“It’s a bittersweet moment for those of us following along,” Mazza wrote. “Without the extension, the funding for some farm programs would have expired at the end of the year. But another year under the conditions of Farm Bill 2018 equates to an extension of uncertainty for CBD.”
Lastly, we added two new entries to our “People to know in NY cannabis” series: Wyatt Harms, the cofounder and CEO of FLAMER, a Brooklyn-based cannabis brand; and Zoe Wilder, who grew up in Atlanta during the height of the War on Drugs, and has dedicated her life since the ‘90s to advocating, researching and promoting cannabis.
Have a great weekend everyone, we’ll be back with plenty more next week.