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Happy 4/20, everyone!
It’s been another tumultuous week in another tumultuous year for legal cannabis in New York, so we hope everyone enjoys a rare Saturday 4/20 with plenty of good vibes and good weed.
Here’s a look at the stories we covered last week:
On Friday, we ran a story about controversy brewing at New York’s largest cannabis industry trade group, the Cannabis Association of New York. Infighting and criticism from other weed industry organizations emerged after CANY’s leadership penned a letter to regulators, which discouraged them from issuing too many licenses at a rapid pace.
The firestorm that has erupted is two-fold: people are deeply unhappy that leadership didn’t seek their approval before sending the letter, and they are criticizing board members for appearing to advocate for a slow-down of the licensing process, when most dues-paying members of CANY are awaiting licenses. Additionally, outside organizations have chafed at CANY’s suggestion that regulators risk flooding the New York weed market.
Freelancer Chris Peraino contributed a story about the continuing problems faced by cannabis retail licensees who are trying to set up shop on Long Island. A year and a half after New York allocated its first adult-use cannabis retail licenses, over 100 storefronts have opened across the state. Just three are on Long Island.
“Previous reporting explains how restrictive zoning codes are limiting potential retail real estate in the towns of Brookhaven and Riverhead,” Peraino wrote. But restrictive codes are not unique to those towns. They are Long Island-wide. And they reflect a culture, at least among elected officials, of anxiousness about marijuana’s legalization.
Ellis Soodak, owner and operator of VERDI Cannabis – a licensed dispensary in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood – wrote a guest column which argues that regulators suggesting they should regulate cannabis virtually identically to how they oversee alcohol are missing the differences between the two industries.
“Using alcohol regulations as the basis for cannabis regulations is not inherently problematic,” Soodak wrote. “But, regulators should be cautious that they are not haphazardly copy-and-pasting regulations. Regulators should be honest about the inherent differences between the two products when crafting regulations.”
We ran an open letter that Wayne Schutt II, deputy mayor of Cortland, wrote to Office of General Services Commissioner Jeanette Moy – who Gov. Kathy Hochul commissioned to lead an inquiry to assess the Office of Cannabis Management, identify areas in need of improvement and implement a long term strategic plan for the agency.
“Commissioner Moy, the first thing you can do after your 30-day audit is to simply issue licenses to all the New Yorkers who have their own locations,” Schutt wrote. “Opening up more dispensaries is the best solution to suffocate the thousands of illicit cannabis shops across New York State.”
We added a new entry to our “People to know in NY cannabis” series: Shanice Brown, the store manager and buyer at VERDI Cannabis.
Lastly, we posted a new edition of attorney Jeffrey Hoffman’s Ask Me Anything segment, in which Hoffman answers questions about the OGS audit and consumption lounges. Hoffman also interviews Colin Decker of Sensei Consulting.
Have a great weekend everyone, we’ll be back with plenty more next week.