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Happy weekend everyone!
From breaking news emerging from the Office of Cannabis Management to running a longform profile about an influential lobbyist, we at NY Cannabis Insider had another busy week, let’s take a look at the stories we covered.
The OCM saw four high-profile resignations last week. Exits include General Counsel Linda Baldwin Deputy Director of Licensing Danielle Holmes, Director of Health and Safety Nicole Rosa and First Deputy General Counsel Patricia Piskorski Heer. These resignations came a month after NY Cannabis Insider reported on other high-profile departures from the agency.
Former OCM spokesperson Aaron Ghitelman said employees at the OCM have been working long hours while short-staffed for over a year, and public criticism of the agency has affected morale there. He added that Baldwin, Heer, Holmes and Rosa will be difficult to replace, as they have decades of experience in state government, combined.
We ran an item detailing our next live event, which we’re hosting at Madam Mikette’s in NYC’s Midtown East neighborhood. This event will feature a panel of business owners who have been financially successful in New York’s cannabis industry, and will share what they did to make money in the state’s weed sector.
These speakers from various areas of the cannabis industry (and ancillary services) will discuss what they’ve done to create a financially successful business in the Empire State’s legal marijuana industry, and how others can follow suit.
Lobbyist Joe Rossi, who leads Park Strategies’ cannabis practice, has long been a behind-the-scenes player in the Empire State’s legal cannabis industry. Last week NY Cannabis Insider did a deep dive on Rossi, and how his work has impacted the industry and led to major changes at the OCM.
After a monthslong public campaign to nudge lawmakers into taking a closer look into the OCM, Gov. Kathy Hochul dismissed the agency’s inaugural leader and ordered an overhaul – following an investigation that proved right many of the criticisms Rossi and his clients had spent nearly two years highlighting.
Reporter Mel Hyman contributed a story about cannabis retailers and processors in New York struggling to find high quality flower for their shops. The phenomenon marks a sharp departure from issues cannabis industry stakeholders were highlighting last year.
Just over a year ago, New York State was still awash in cannabis flower left over from the 2021 and 2022 harvests. But in a stunning reversal, processors and retailers are telling NY Cannabis Insider that now they’re having difficulty finding sufficient high-quality, locally grown weed.
In another story, Hyman wrote about sales in New York’s medical market declining as sales in the state’s adult-use market are ramping up.
For 2022, the first full year subsequent to New York’s March 2021 legalization, medical marijuana sales totaled nearly $169 million. For 2023, total medical cannabis sales declined to $148 million – a 12% decrease.
Colin Decker, owner and founder of adult-use brand 7 SEAZ – and owner of Hudson Valley-based Sensei Growth Consulting – contributed a guest column in which he provides advice for marijuana cultivators for how to navigate the “fresh frozen” market.
“The new wave for the New York industry is for farmers to sell their harvest as ‘fresh frozen,’” Decker writes. “This isn’t new to the industry as a whole, as it has been going on in California, Oregon, and many other legal states for quite some time.”
In another guest column, Scott Mazza, co-founder of Buffalo-based Vitality CBD, wrote about new research into the role of cannabis in pain treatment.
In June, Mazza wrote, University of Arizona researchers found that cannabis terpenes – the compounds that give the plant its aroma and taste – were as effective as morphine at reducing chronic neuropathic pain.
Lastly, we added a new entry to our “People to know in NY cannabis” series: Regina Smith, co-owner of Yonkers dispensary The Plant.
Have a great weekend everyone, we’ll be back with plenty more next week.