NYS Cannabis Control Board – Cannabis Industry

August 23, 2022August 23, 2022 by Duane Morris

New York Cannabis Control Board Approves 19 Adult Use Conditional Cultivator and 15 Adult Use Conditional Processor Licenses; Retail Dispensary License Applications Open August 25

On August 15, 2022, the New York Cannabis Control Board (the Board) held a public meeting via real-time stream to consider a number of agenda items. Among the most notable of the topics taken up was the approval of conditional adult use cultivator licenses and conditional adult use processor licenses.

Chair Tremaine Wright opened the meeting by providing an update on the Seeding Opportunity Initiative (SOI) that was launched in Spring 2022. Through the SOI, the Board has granted 223 adult use conditional cultivator licenses, resulting in the first farms cultivating regulated adult use cannabis in New York State. Chair Wright also noted that the Board visited three of these farms in July and were encouraged by the progress and creativity demonstrated in such a short window of time. After some additional opening remarks, the Board moved on to “further steps to advance the Seeding Opportunity Initiative” to “continue to build out New York’s Adult Use Cannabis supply chain.” Continue reading “New York Cannabis Control Board Approves 19 Adult Use Conditional Cultivator and 15 Adult Use Conditional Processor Licenses; Retail Dispensary License Applications Open August 25”

October 29, 2021November 15, 2021 by Duane Morris

Tremaine Wright presents to the NYSSCPA Cannabis Committee

By Hugh Jacobsen

Tremaine Wright, the Chairwoman of the Cannabis Control Board of the New York Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), on October 28, 2021 gave a presentation to the Cannabis Committee of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants on various items relating to cannabis regulation in New York.

At this presentation, Ms. Wright went over various features of the Marijuana Regulation and Tax Act. She noted that there will be preference to individuals and communities injured by the War on Drugs and reiterated the goal of the legislation to ensure that at least 50% of the licenses go to social equity applicants. She noted that there are nine different types of licenses provided in the statute and that vertical integration will generally be prohibited. However, New York will take steps so that micro businesses will not have to raise as much capital that would be required by other entities. In addition, there is no consideration currently being given to a residency requirement for obtaining a license. In response to a question on capital requirement, she did note that she had heard that people were spending over a $1 million to open up a retail dispensary, and she thought it could be done for less. She also encouraged the industry to provide more education so that people do not enter into significant financial commitments (such as rent) earlier than necessary. Continue reading “Tremaine Wright presents to the NYSSCPA Cannabis Committee”

October 21, 2021October 22, 2021 by Duane Morris

NYS Cannabis Control Board Meeting Summary 10/21/21

The New York State (“NYS”) Cannabis Control Board (the “Board”) held its second public meeting earlier today, just 16 days after its inaugural meeting on October 5^th. The meeting was livestreamed to the general public with all Board Members (Tremaine Wright (Chair), Jessica Garcia, Jen Metzger, Rueben McDaniel and Adam Perry (attending virtually)), the Executive Director (Chris Alexander) and Chief Equity Officer (Jason Starr) in attendance.

Chairwoman Wright summarized the Board’s work since its last meeting including (1) its ongoing employment efforts (both new hires and the transition of existing NYS Department of Health staff), (2) the Board’s outreach to key NYS stakeholders (including visits to various cultivation and processing facilities), and (3) continued work on the creation of implementing regulations as required by the NYS Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (the “MRTA”).

Executive Director Alexander introduced the key features of newly proposed Medical Cannabis Home Cultivation Regulations. The Board approved the submission of these draft regulations to the Office of Cannabis Management (the “OCM”) for publication on the OCM website, upon which a four month public review and comment period will commence. In a nutshell, these new regulations will permit home cultivation (indoor or outdoor) of a limited number of cannabis plants (six in total, with some exceptions) by certified patients and their designated caregivers for personal medical use. These regulations are not intended to permit home cultivation for adult recreational use.

Executive Director Alexander also presented an update on the Expungement and Criminal Justice efforts undertaken by NYS in accordance with the requirements of the MRTA. Those efforts, to eradicate criminal records related to marijuana usage, are ongoing and must be completed by March 31, 2023.

Finally, the Executive Director summarized the Municipal Opt-Out Program under which municipalities may opt-out of (prohibit) adult-use dispensaries and/or on-site consumption licenses from operating within their jurisdiction (however, they cannot opt-out out of other license types or adult-use legalization itself). Local laws “opting-out” must be passed by December 31, 2021. Municipalities that opt-out may opt-back-in at any time. Municipalities that opt-out will not receive any revenue from the local excise tax on the sale of adult-use products.

The Board has not yet scheduled its next public meeting but the time and livestream link for that meeting will be posted on the OCM website in advance of the meeting. Chairwoman Wright suggested the public sign-up to receive updates from the OCM, which will include notices of all future Board meetings. The sign-up page for the OCM can be found here: https://cannabis.ny.gov/sign_up_for_updates_from_OCM

Summary drafted by Michael Schwamm, Jerome Levy, Michael Barz and Erensu Altan.