New York delays plan to open cannabis farmers markets this summer

New York’s promising plan to establish cannabis farmers markets to ramp up retail sales amid the slow rollout of licensed adult-use marijuana retailers appears to have hit a snag.

Optimistic forecasts had cannabis farmers markets launching through a pilot program and opening in the early summer, but neither has happened yet.

The state’s Office of Cannabis Management, which announced the proposal in May, appears to have backtracked on those plans.

Spokesperson Aaron Ghitelman recently told Syracuse NPR station WAER that “no final decisions have been made with respect to farmers markets.”

The proposal would have allowed up to three growers to partner with a retailer to sell cannabis products at non-storefront locations.

The plan’s aim was to expand retail outlets.

About half of New York’s 1,520 municipalities have opted out of adult-use retail, according to the Rockefeller Institute of Government, a public-policy think tank based in Albany.

Meanwhile, the first recreational cannabis store in the Bronx recently began sales.

Statis Cannabis Co. opened last week in a temporary location in the borough’s Crotona neighborhood, the Bronx Times reported.

Only 19 retail outlets are licensed in all of New York, and four of those are delivery only, according to state data.

New York launched recreational sales statewide in late December.

Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-york-delays-plan-to-open-cannabis-farmers-markets-this-summer/