NY Cannabis Regulators Drag Feet On Social Equity Rules As Coalition Educates Future Entrepreneurs

The first recreational cannabis sales in New York began on Dec. 29, the State’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) missed a deadline mandated by NY's cannabis law to produce a Social and Economic Equity Plan, reported Syracuse.com.

By January 1, 2023, the Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA) required the OCM’s chief equity officer to provide a report to the Cannabis Control Board on this plan, so it could be sent to the legislature. But, that did not happen.

The legislature has the responsibility to monitor the MRTA’s social and economic equity goals by reviewing this plan and the required reports on its implementation, NYS Senator Jeremy Cooney said.

What Does The OCM Say?

The agency is reviewing “hundreds of pages of notes” from more than a dozen community round tables held across the state with representatives from social and economic equity groups, said OCM spokesperson Freeman Klopott, who added that the agency will be submitting a report about its “social equity-related activities,” after analyzing data to determine the locations “of more than 1.2 million arrests to analyze communities disproportionately impacted” by the drug war and that the plan is expected to be released sometime in the first quarter of 2023.

However, Paula Collins, an NYC-based attorney who represents cannabis entrepreneurs and investors said: “What they may not realize is that there are cannabis professionals – and ancillary professionals like myself – who are really looking for these reports for information about how to move forward in this very dynamic space, and we need them to hold themselves accountable to these deadlines. Why should anybody else in this space, like legacy or unlicensed vendors, take heed to the rules that they have set forth – if they themselves don’t stick to the rules?” 

No Time To Waste

A group of business owners formed a coalition that seeks to educate and compel the state’s future cannabis retailers.

The NY CAURD Coalition aims to teach leadership skills, business basics, and marketing strategies to those interested in entering the industry, and to “help legacy transition into the legal market,” said Jayson Tantalo, who helped create the coalition and also seeks a Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) license.
Not everything the Office of Cannabis Management promised is coming to fruition “so we have to create a system where we’re at the forefront,” said Jeremy Rivera the group’s co-founder and a CAURD applicant as well. “We want to make this into generational wealth, but unless we’re working together and creating a strong network, once the big players come in – big money is going to push out little money."

As MSN reported, there were more than 900 applicants for the state’s CAURD program last year, and so far the OCM has only awarded 28 of its 150 available licenses to individuals.

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Photo: Courtesy Of Tony Wiek On Unsplash