Business
New York Approves New Retail Licenses, Cannabis Farmers Markets
New York cannabis regulators have issued more than 200 additional retail dispensary licenses and approved new rules to allow for cannabis farmers markets.
New York cannabis regulators this week approved more than 200 additional retail dispensary licenses and adopted new rules that will allow cannabis growers to sell directly to consumers at farmers markets. Characterizing the moves as “bold actions to swiftly grow the state’s legal cannabis market,” the New York State Cannabis Control Board (CCB) and the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) announced the developments on Wednesday in a bid to shore up the state’s licensed marijuana operators.
At a meeting on July 19, the board approved 212 additional Conditional Adult Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licenses, bringing the total number issued to 463. Under an initiative spearheaded by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, the state’s first licenses for retail weed shops have been reserved for “individuals most impacted by the unjust enforcement of the prohibition of cannabis or nonprofit organizations whose services include support for the formerly incarcerated.”
“The provisional approval of today’s 212 CAURD licenses by the Cannabis Control Board marks a momentous leap forward in our pursuit of an inclusive and fair cannabis industry,” Cannabis Control Board chair Tremaine Wright said in a statement from the OCM on Wednesday. “These licensees are demonstrative of the innovation and diversity of New York state.”
The board noted that it will continue to review additional CAURD license applications for consideration on a rolling basis. To be eligible for a CAURD license, applicants were required to either have had a cannabis conviction or be the family member of someone with a cannabis conviction, among other criteria. Nonprofits with a history of serving formerly incarcerated or currently incarcerated individuals were eligible to apply for a CAURD license.
Although nearly 500 CAURD licenses have now been issued, only 20 retail dispensaries have opened and begun serving customers. The first shop opened in the closing days of 2022, fulfilling Hochul’s promise to launch the regulated cannabis market before the end of the year. But since then, only 19 more dispensaries have opened, the most recent on Tuesday in Buffalo.
Board Approves Cannabis Farmers Markets
The slow rollout of retail dispensaries has left New York’s cannabis growers with a glut of regulated cannabis while allowing the illicit market to flourish. In a bid to prop up the licensed cultivators, on Wednesday the CCB also approved new rules to allow for farmers markets known as Cannabis Grower Showcases (CGS). Under the initiative, growers will be permitted to partner with conditional adult-use retailers and processors to organize events for showcasing New York brands and selling adult-use cannabis products to consumers.
Damian Fagon, the OCM’s chief equity officer, said that his experience as a former New York hemp farmer has given him a firsthand look at “how devastating it can be when a hard-fought harvest struggles to get to market.”
“The Cannabis Growers Showcase was informed by those lived experiences, as well as by many difficult conversations with our growers and processors who justifiably wanted more avenues to share their products with New Yorkers,” said Fagon. “This initiative will not only increase sales and retail access throughout the state, but it will also connect New York consumers directly with local cannabis farmers and homegrown brands.”
Under the initiative, each CGS event will feature a minimum of three licensed cultivators partnering with a licensed adult-use dispensary to sell regulated cannabis products to consumers. CGS events will only be allowed in cities and towns that allow for retail cannabis sales and must have a predominantly adult population. Only New Yorkers aged 21 and over will be permitted to purchase cannabis and cannabis products.
Additionally, one processor will also be able to sell cannabis products such as edibles, beverages and vape cartridges for every three cultivators. To ensure compliance and adherence to regulations, CGS participants are required to obtain municipal approval unless the event is held at a licensed retail dispensary where cannabis sales typically occur.
Michelle Bodian, a partner at the leading cannabis and psychedelic law firm Vicente LLP, welcomed the new licenses and rules to allow for cannabis farmers markets. But she is unsure if the moves will be sufficient to secure the success of New York’s regulated cannabis market.
“More licenses and more sales opportunities are great ideas, but until we see the details, it’s unclear whether these actions will be enough by themselves to propel the licensed cannabis industry forward,” Bodian wrote in an email to High Times. “These opportunities are also only temporary and each stage of the supply chain needs permanent solutions so they have consistent cash flows in order to have a hope of being profitable.”
Source: https://hightimes.com/news/new-york-approves-new-retail-licenses-cannabis-farmers-markets/
New Mexico regulators fined a cannabis operator nearly $300,000 and revoked its license after the company allegedly created fake reports in the state’s traceability software.
The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused marijuana manufacturer and retailer Golden Roots of 11 violations, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Golden Roots operates the The Cannabis Revolution Dispensary.
The majority of the violations are related to the Albuquerque company’s improper use of BioTrack, which has been New Mexico’s track-and-trace vendor since 2015.
The CCD alleges Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after it had received its vertically integrated license, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Because cannabis takes longer than two months to be cultivated, the CCD was suspicious of the report.
After inspecting the company’s premises, the CCD alleged Golden Roots reported cultivation, transportation and sales in BioTrack but wasn’t able to provide officers who inspected the site evidence that the operator was cultivating cannabis.
In April, the CCD revoked Golden Roots’ license and issued a $10,000 fine, according to the news outlet.
The company requested a hearing, which the regulator scheduled for Sept. 1.
At the hearing, the CCD testified that the company’s dried-cannabis weights in BioTrack were suspicious because they didn’t seem to accurately reflect how much weight marijuana loses as it dries.
Company employees also poorly accounted for why they were making adjustments in the system of up to 24 pounds of cannabis, making comments such as “bad” or “mistake” in the software, Albuquerque Business First reported.
Golden Roots was fined $298,972.05 – the amount regulators allege the company made selling products that weren’t properly accounted for in BioTrack.
The CCD has been cracking down on cannabis operators accused of selling products procured from out-of-state or not grown legally:
- Regulators alleged in August that Albuquerque dispensary Sawmill Sweet Leaf sold out-of-state products and didn’t have a license for extraction.
- Paradise Exotics Distro lost its license in July after regulators alleged the company sold products made in California.
Golden Roots was the first alleged rulebreaker in New Mexico to be asked to pay a large fine.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-mexico-cannabis-operator-fined-loses-license-for-alleged-biotrack-fraud/
Four marijuana companies, including a multistate operator, have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in which they allege the federal MJ prohibition under the Controlled Substances Act is no longer constitutional.
According to the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, retailer Canna Provisions, Treevit delivery service CEO Gyasi Sellers, cultivator Wiseacre Farm and MSO Verano Holdings Corp. are all harmed by “the federal government’s unconstitutional ban on cultivating, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing intrastate marijuana.”
Verano is headquartered in Chicago but has operations in Massachusetts; the other three operators are based in Massachusetts.
The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the “Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to the intrastate cultivation, manufacture, possession, and distribution of marijuana pursuant to state law.”
The companies want the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
They hired prominent law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to represent them.
The New York-based firm’s principal is David Boies, whose former clients include Microsoft, former presidential candidate Al Gore and Elizabeth Holmes’ disgraced startup Theranos.
Similar challenges to the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) have failed.
One such challenge led to a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2005.
In Gonzalez vs. Raich, the highest court in the United States ruled in a 6-3 decision that the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power to outlaw marijuana federally, even though state laws allow the cultivation and sale of cannabis.
In the 18 years since that ruling, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use marijuana and the federal government has allowed a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry to thrive.
Since both Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice, currently headed by Garland, have declined to intervene in state-licensed marijuana markets, the key facts that led to the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling “no longer apply,” Boies said in a statement Thursday.
“The Supreme Court has since made clear that the federal government lacks the authority to regulate purely intrastate commerce,” Boies said.
“Moreover, the facts on which those precedents are based are no longer true.”
Verano President Darren Weiss said in a statement the company is “prepared to bring this case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to align federal law with how Congress has acted for years.”
While the Biden administration’s push to reschedule marijuana would help solve marijuana operators’ federal tax woes, neither rescheduling nor modest Congressional reforms such as the SAFER Banking Act “solve the fundamental issue,” Weiss added.
“The application of the CSA to lawful state-run cannabis business is an unconstitutional overreach on state sovereignty that has led to decades of harm, failed businesses, lost jobs, and unsafe working conditions.”
Alabama regulators are targeting Dec. 1 to award the first batch of medical cannabis business licenses after the agency’s first two attempts were scrapped because of scoring errors and litigation.
The first licenses will be awarded to individual cultivators, delivery providers, processors, dispensaries and state testing labs, according to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC).
Then, on Dec. 12, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations, a designation set primarily for multistate operators.
Licenses are expected to be handed out 28 days after they have been awarded, so MMJ production could begin in early January, according to the Alabama Daily News.
That means MMJ products could be available for patients around early March, an AMCC spokesperson told the media outlet.
Regulators initially awarded 21 business licenses in June, only to void them after applicants alleged inconsistencies with how the applications were scored.
Then, in August, the state awarded 24 different licenses – 19 went to June recipients – only to reverse themselves again and scratch those licenses after spurned applicants filed lawsuits.
A state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chicago-based MSO Verano Holdings Corp., but another lawsuit is pending.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/alabama-plans-to-award-medical-cannabis-licenses-dec-1/
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