Two companies on the list — Smacked and Royal Leaf NY, which does business as Statis — are both located in New York City, and both were early recipients of Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) permits. Smacked opened for business in January 2023 in Manhattan, while Statis opened in July 2023 in the Bronx.
Although the New York Office of Cannabis Management curates the list of delinquent retailers, it’s typically confidential, accessible only to other business licenseholders upstream in the supply chain, such as growers, distributors and other brands. A records request for the list filed in April by Green Market Report seeking a copy of the list was denied by the OCM as of Aug. 28, but an industry source who requested anonymity shared it.
While many in the fledgling New York cannabis trade agree that the majority of operators are still getting their legs under them, several sources said that the relatively low number of retailers named on the list is a sign that the underlying policy is working as intended, as a solid incentive for shops to keep their bills paid and up to date.
“I would say about 90% of the time, we’re getting paid promptly,” said Joann Kudrewicz, the owner of Ravens View Genetics, one of the licensed marijuana farms in upstate New York. “The few folks that have been bad payers, I just disengage from.”
Nicolas Guarino, the owner and founder of processing firm Naturae, said he’s kept an eye on the list since it went live in April and estimated there’ve only been about eight licensed retailers of the 171 that have even had their names formally put on the list at one point or another. The only way to get off the list is by settling outstanding bills.
“It’s not very many. You really have to be egregious,” Guarino said. “Everybody isn’t just putting the hammer down at 30 days. In general, it’s only used when the retailer is not responding … They get posted on there, and everyone is like, ‘This is a bad actor.’”
