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The Office of Cannabis Management has told NY Cannabis Insider that rules governing cannabis special event permits are currently being drafted, and that the agency hopes to have them out for public review in the next few weeks – or months.
Given OCM’s past tardiness in issuing rules and regulations for the production and sale of recreational cannabis, the news isn’t being particularly well-received by those most affected.
“With so few stores open to support hundreds of brands (most sourced outside of New York State) it’s vital these event permits are approved ASAP to allow farms to sell direct,” said Tessa Williams, owner of Empire Farm 1830, in Copake.
Special event permits were proposed in January by OCM as a substitute for the Cannabis Growers Showcases that proliferated in Upstate New York in the summer and fall of 2023, but ran up against a Dec. 31 deadline and were unable to continue.
For Williams, who holds an adult-use cannabis licenses to cultivate, process and distribute in New York, the CGS and event programs “not only helped meet consumer demand for legal cannabis in a direct farm-to-consumer style,” but brought “tremendous financial relief” to farmers trying to stay afloat.
“We had established a good following … but the markets were closed down on Dec. 31, just three months after we established customers and locations,” she noted.
“The sooner we can relaunch farm-to-consumer events,” she added, then growers “can continue to attempt to recover two years of losses on inventory they continue to hold.”
Democracy is a participatory process, said David Falkowski, president of OMO Labs (a Long Island cannabis processing company), so while the OCM is “still drafting the rules, let’s send them emails and messages with ideas telling them what we’d like to see.”
The showcases were a great chance for people to “medicate” and “celebrate” the legalization of cannabis, but they “really needed some fixes,” he said.
And a nod to what some consider an underfunded agency, Falkowski, who is also owner of Bridgehampton Loam, an outdoor growing operation in eastern Long Island, said it was understandable that the rules were taking time to draft because OCM only has 160 employees, and they’re first having to wade through a slew of applications for new retail dispensaries.
Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo (D-Binghamton), chair of the Assembly Agriculture Committee, said that OCM guidance for the special grower events was sorely needed.
“Uncertainty remains at a time when many of our cannabis growers are barely hanging on,” Lupardo said.
One of those farmers working in a veritable cannabis desert is Marcos Ribeiro, whose family farms are located in different parts of eastern Suffolk County, including Mattituck and Shirley.
The growers’ showcases last year were beneficial for the East End Flower Farm, which Marcos runs along with his wife, Kathleen Long-Ribeiro. “We had tons and tons of product and nowhere to sell it, so that really helped us out.”
Plus, “We developed relationships with other growers and processors, and people loved it, especially when they found out they were talking with the growers … they thought that was great.”
So, Ribeiro would like to see them continue, in an expedited fashion, but in the meantime, “we’re hammering down on these new (retail) stores that seem to be opening up every week now.”
Although not on Long Island yet. Only two licensed retail dispensaries are open on Long Island, although a third is expected within a few weeks.
The funny thing, Ribeiro said, is that “My best customer is in Plattsburgh, so I might as well be living in Canada,” he laughed. “We also have stores in Syracuse and Buffalo we’re selling to, so once we get the orders, we just hit the road.”