Who's Going To Buy All This Weed? New York's Slow-Moving Market Leaves Cannabis Farmers Hanging

It's been a wild ride for New York's cannabis market and its efforts to get up and running as issues around its slow rollout keep piling up.

Cannabis farmers have become concerned since the Cannabis Control Board's approved the first adult-use Cannabis Conditional Cultivator Licenses in 2021. Recently, they gathered at the Capitol to call attention to the fact that there are far too few retail pot shops functioning 

statewide, which is hindering the farmers' earnings and putting their businesses in jeopardy, reported Associated Press.

While thousands of illicit cannabis stores are still operating, a dozen

legal retailers statewide can't sell the large quantities of marijuana the growers have harvested.

Cannabis Farmers Are Getting Impatient

In November, New York farmers had $750 million in cannabis in the form of 300,000 pounds ready for distribution.  

Brittany Carbone, a co-founder of Tricolla Farms in rural New York said their stock includes 1,500 packs of pre-rolled joints and roughly 2,000 packs of edibles.

"What we really need to see is more retailers get open, and that's going to actually give us the sustainable solution," Carbone said.

Without sales, farmers are facing a crucial lack of funds to put toward the upcoming crop year.

"We are really under the gun here. We're all losing money," said Seth Jacobs, who runs a farm in upstate New York. "Even the most entrepreneurial and ambitious amongst us just can't move much product in this environment."

How New York Addresses The Slow Roll Out 

Recently, New York's Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) is addressing the issue with an innovative plan to introduce cannabis farmers' markets this summer.

During a May meeting with the Cannabis Association of New York, OCM director of policy John Kagia explained the strategy enabling cannabis growers and retailers to sell their products outside traditional storefronts.

These markets could occur when at least three growers and a retailer are included, once the events need to get municipal approval.

Meanwhile, critics have identified several reasons for the slow rollout of the weed market.

The NY Office of Cannabis Management started accepting applications for Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licenses in August. Through the New York State Seeding Opportunity Initiative, the state's first legal recreational cannabis dispensaries were meant to be operated by those most impacted by the war on cannabis.

Hochul pledged $200 million to support social equity applicants to make the industry more inclusive. That fund is still pending its first investment.

However, with state regulators recently doubling the number of available retail permits for recreational marijuana social equity applicants to 300 and revising marijuana industry rules to allow ten licensed registered organizations to enter the market starting December 29, 2023, cannabis farmers are hoping for a better tomorrow.

A recent settlement resolved a legal dispute that caused a restrictive injunction that effectively halted the issuance of CAURD licenses statewide.

As such farmers like Jacobs and Carbone are not yet losing hope.

"This all will get worked out," Jacobs said. "And I want to be there when it does."

Photo: Courtesy of CRYSTALWEED cannabis on Unsplash