FILE – Marijuana plants for the adult recreational market are watered in a greenhouse at Hepworth Farms in Milton, N.Y., on July 15, 2022. (AP FILE)
ALBANY, N.Y. — More than two dozen provisional licensees were approved Monday by the New York State Cannabis Control.
The Record
The Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) license is a central pillar of the New York State Seeding Opportunity Initiative. Through the Initiative, New York’s first legal adult-use retail dispensaries will be operated by those most impacted by the enforcement of the prohibition of cannabis or nonprofit organizations whose services include support for the formerly incarcerated. These dispensaries will be making the first legal adult-use sales with cannabis products grown by New York Farmers.
The Office of Cannabis Management received more than 900 applications for CAURD licenses. At Monday’s meeting, the Board approved 36 provisional licensees, including 28 qualifying individuals and eight nonprofit CAURD applicants. At least one CAURD license was granted in each available region of the state.
As part of the Seeding Opportunity Initiative, individuals who are awarded CAURD licenses will receive support from the Social Equity Cannabis Investment Fund. Up to 175 licenses will be granted in total: as many as 150 to individual applicants and up to 25 to nonprofit applicants. Going forward, license applications will be sent to the Board for its consideration on a rolling basis.
“Today is a monumental day for New York’s nascent cannabis industry. With the first adult-use retail dispensary licenses in the hands of businesses and eligible nonprofits, we’ve ensured the first sales will be made at dispensaries operated by those impacted by the unjust enforcement of cannabis prohibition,” Tremaine Wright, Chair of the Cannabis Control Board, said in a news release. “This is just the start, we will continue to work to build an industry that is open to anyone who wants to participate. Many thanks to Governor Kathy Hochul and her unwavering support as we all work to make sure New York has the most equitable and inclusive cannabis industry in the nation.”
“I’m thrilled that we’ve approved the first adult-use retail licenses as part of the Seeding Opportunity Initiative, which sets our industry off on the right foot – with equity, justice, and sustainability at the forefront,” said Jen Metzger, Cannabis Control Board Member. “These entrepreneurs will be selling sun-grown cannabis cultivated with a minimal carbon footprint, and we must continue to ensure that New York’s industry remains on an equitable and climate-conscious path well into the future.”
The cannabis regulations package outlines include:
The application and license selection and renewal process,
The role municipalities play in regulating cannabis businesses,
Key social and economic equity program provisions including identification and prioritization,
Environmental and sustainability standards,
Ownership and true party of interest prohibitions,
General business operating requirements including security, record keeping, and transportation.
The proposed regulations will be filed for a 60-day public comment period. Comments can be filed by emailing regulations@ocm.ny.gov.
The regulations also outline criteria for identifying social and economic equity market participants and detail targeted opportunities for minority and women-owned businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned businesses, and distressed farmers as well as individuals from communities that were disproportionately impacted by the disproportionate enforcement of cannabis prohibition.
New York’s Cannabis Law prioritizes Social & Economic Equity by supporting the following (five) Social & Economic Groups (SEE Groups):
Individuals from a community disproportionately impacted (CDI) by the enforcement of cannabis prohibition
Minority-owned businesses
Women-owned businesses
Distressed farmers
Service-disabled veterans
The Cannabis Control Board voted to advance regulations for packaging, labeling, marketing, advertising, and laboratory permitting, oversight, and testing of adult-use cannabis to a final public comment.
The regulations will undergo a 45-day public comment period anticipated to begin on Dec. 7, 2022, and end on Jan. 23, 2023. The regulations are designed to help protect public health and reduce waste. They include requirements for child-resistant packaging and labeling that identifies products as containing cannabis with THC, limiting marketing to adult-only audiences, and the rules for establishing testing procedures to ensure products are safe for consumption.
Revisions will:
Create more flexibility for licensees to build their brands while maintaining robust public health standards.
Allow additional use of images, branding, and graphics in cannabis product packaging and labeling, including through special branding material.
Strengthen sustainability efforts by allowing licensees to conduct redemption programs as part of an approved sustainability plan.
More than 50 comments were received on the laboratory regulations, and revisions include, but are not limited to clarification of proficiency test provider, ownership, and state reference laboratory requirements.
Emergency laboratory regulations filed in August were extended to March 14, 2023. Without the extension, they would have expired next month.
The Cannabis Control Board approved an additional 16 Adult-use Cannabis Conditional Cultivator Licenses, growing the total number of approved Adult-Use Cannabis Conditional Cultivator Licenses to 277. The approval of eight Adult-Use Cannabis Conditional Processor Licenses raises the total issued by the Board to 33, and the approval of three laboratory permits brings the total to seven.
To be eligible for a conditional cultivator license, farmers must have been authorized to grow hemp under the Department of Agriculture and Markets Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program through legislation signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in Feb. 2022. Under the same law, to be eligible, conditional processors must hold a Cannabinoid Hemp Processor License issued by the Office of Cannabis Management and have applied for the license prior to Jan. 1, 2022.
The Board also approved permits for three independent laboratories, which are a critical part of New York’s equity-first supply chain, helping to bring safer cannabis products onto the shelves of New York’s first adult-use cannabis retail dispensaries. The three laboratory permits approved Monday are for:
Biotrax Testing Laboratory Inc. (Erie County)
Kaycha NY LLC (Albany County)
H/T: www.troyrecord.com
