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from June 2022 - NE Leaf

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>> Continued from pg. 15 NEW YORK EYES RETAIL LAUNCH

New York officials are doubling down on launching retail Cannabis sales this year. While regulators initially stated that the process of creating the rules governing the industry would likely push the retail start date into next year, a recent surge of activity in the state has lawmakers optimistic about a 2022 launch. Possibly by the fall.

Much of the marijuana momentum stems from Gov. Hochul’s leadership. While the adult-use program stalled under former Governor Cuomo, Hochul has made implementing the state’s pot program a priority.

The “seeding opportunity initiative” Hochul signed into law is responsible for fast tracking retail sales. The law allows existing hemp farmers to apply New York Governor Kathy Hochul for Cannabis cultivation licenses and, Photo Wikimedia Commons theoretically, begin creating the supply necessary for a successful statewide sales launch.

In order to qualify for the cultivator license, applicants must have been approved by the Department of Agriculture to grow hemp by December 31, 2021. They also need to have grown hemp for two of the last four years. Additionally, applicants are expected to “participate in an environmental sustainability program and a social equity mentorship program.”

The Cannabis Control Board (CCB), which oversees industry regulations in New York, has thus far approved 88 cultivator licenses – 52 licenses were approved when the process began in April and 36 additional licenses have subsequently been approved as we go to press.

The initiative also stipulates that people who have previously been convicted of a Cannabis-related crime will receive the first retail licenses in the state. The rule is an attempt to reward those who suffered under prohibition now that Cannabis has been legalized and commercialized. However, a recent Siena College poll found that most New Yorkers are opposed to rewarding former Cannabis criminals with the state’s first retail licenses. According to the survey, just 33 percent of respondents favored licensing people with a marijuana conviction on their record first, while 54 percent were opposed.

Nonetheless, most New Yorkers agree that getting to market quickly is important. Especially since New Jersey already began adult-use sales, kicking off their program April 21.

Thanks to Hochul’s initiative, New York should be ready to launch retail sales in just a matter of months. Office of Cannabis Management Director Chris Alexander told NY Cannabis Insider, “By fall, we should have some products that are ready to be harvested … We’ll have the conditional growers, we’ll have the dispensaries online – some of them, at least – and so we’ll have a full supply chain and an active market.”

Photo by Rodnae Productions

Connecticut has been inundated with applications for the first 12 adultuse retail licenses being offered by the state. Officials will award a dozen retail shop licenses out of the 15,602 applications that were submitted by the May 2022 deadline.

The first six retail licenses will go to social equity applicants. A lottery will be used to select the lucky six winners out of the 8,357 total applications submitted. After the equity licenses are awarded and the applicants’ eligibility is confirmed, the state will move on to the six general licenses (also selected via lottery). A total of 7,245 applications were submitted for general lottery licenses.

While Connecticut failed to limit the number of applications one person or business could submit, it did include rules preventing more than two retail licenses being awarded to one applicant.

In addition to the more than 15,600 retail sales license applications, the state also accepted nearly 2,000 applications for micro-cultivation licenses. Micro-cultivators are allowed to grow Cannabis in locations as small as 2,000 square feet and as large as 10,000 square feet.

The state’s next application deadline is for delivery licenses – which Connecticut’s legalization law allows dispensaries, hybrid retailers and microcultivators to apply for. One week before the May 18 deadline, the state had received more than 300 applications from delivery license hopefuls. Delivery is slated to begin with the launch of retail sales.

Connecticut followed New Jersey and New York, passing an adult-use Cannabis law in July 2021. The law allows for possession of up to 1.5 ounces of marijuana and up to 5 ounces of pot secured at home. It also establishes retail sales of Cannabis to adults 21 and older.

While the state is working toward setting industry rules and implementing its adult-use program, a retail launch date has not yet been set. Though some optimistic officials maintain sales could begin later this year, most industry experts believe a 2023 start date is more realistic.

CONNECTICUT PREPARES POT

PROGRAM

Photo by Unsplash Photo by Grav

VERMONT TO LIMIT THC POTENCY

Vermont will open its retail Cannabis program with a strict cap on THC limits in “high potency” pot products. When adult-use sales begin later this year, the state will ban edibles and concentrates containing more than 60 percent THC, preventing such products from being sold to legal recreational consumers.

Vermont has taken an unusual path to a taxed and regulated marijuana market. The state originally legalized marijuana in 2018. However, that law only legalized possession, as it did not create a commercialized Cannabis industry. But after two years of witnessing nearby states in the region rake in tax revenue through successful retail pot programs, Vermont voted to legalize adult-use sales in 2020, with an anticipated retail start date in October 2022.

The original commercialization bill passed in 2020 included the potency caps for concentrated Cannabis products. However, last month it appeared the state would remove the bans after the Senate passed legislation that eliminated THC limits.

Unfortunately, the House dug its heels in on the issue, insisting that the potency caps be restored in a revised bill. That version of the legislation was approved by both chambers, meaning that when Vermont begins retail sales, all pot products containing over 60 percent THC will be illegal (with the exception of prepackaged vape pens, which are not included in the state’s potency cap).

Clearly, banning legal sales of higher potency Cannabis products is an ideal way to maintain an unregulated black market in the state – or encourage consumers to travel to one of the region’s many other states that offer potent concentrates at retail locations. Vermont’s own Cannabis Control Board (CCB) opposes potency caps and even explained to state lawmakers that creating THC limits “would be a ‘gift’ to the black market,” according to Seven Days VT. Meanwhile, Vermont’s retail sales launch date of October 1, 2022 is now in serious doubt as the state has failed to fully staff regulatory agencies overseeing the industry. The CCB already missed its deadline to begin Photo by Jess Loiterton issuing retail licenses. Vermont also missed the May 1 deadline for existing medical dispensaries approved by the state to begin selling adult-use Cannabis.

However, officials did issue the state’s first recreational cultivation license on May 16. And the CCB claims dozens of additional licenses will be awarded in the coming weeks and months.