In this article, we will discuss the legalization status within the state of New York for cannabis cultivation and retail dispensaries, and how a business owner might simplify their operational control requirements.
Things you need to know about the New York Cannabis Market
Some facts on New York cannabis legalization
On February 22nd, 2022, the state of New York officially signed into law the creation a new Adult-Use Conditional Cultivator license, authorizing eligible hemp growers to apply for a license to grow cannabis containing over 0.3% THC for the upcoming adult-use market. This officially marked the start of New York cannabis legalization.
On August 25th, 2022, New York announced the formal license application process for Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD), for 150 dispensaries, with an emphasis to support and assist social and economic equity applicants. The plan is to open the first dispensaries by the end of the year, and the first dispensaries are set to sell New York-grown cannabis harvested by one of the state’s more than 240 cannabis farms that received conditional cultivator licenses in 2022.
How is the cannabis dispensary application process managed?
New York’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) and Cannabis Control Board (CCB) issued and approved regulations regarding conditional retail dispensary licenses for the general public, and they encourage businesses to think about how they will incorporate social equity programs into their business plans.
How is social equity defined in New York?
The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (the Act) created a robust plan that focuses on helping “social and economic equity applicants” succeed in the state’s new cannabis industry. Included in the Act’s definition of “social and economic equity applicants” are members of communities disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs, minority or women-owned businesses, distressed farmers, and service-disabled veterans.
Projections for New York cannabis market
In a recent article posted on the official NYC website Mayor Eric Adams highlighted that:
“The Cannabis NYC program will boost the city’s economy and provide New Yorkers with new job opportunities. Moreover, it will also address the harm done to Black and Brown communities during cannabis prohibition. The expected size of New York City’s emerging regulated adult-use cannabis will be historic, with estimates of up to $1.3 billion in sales by 2023, and between 19,000-24,000 jobs created over the next three years.”
How can GreenSpacePro benefit both cannabis cultivators and dispensary operators?
The GreenSpacePro team is working closely with the New York-based Castetter Cannabis Group to reach out to the licensed New York cultivators and show how our software solution can help them to simplify, organize and control their operational requirements into easy-to-use templates, project plans, automatic license due date reminders, audit logs and host all relevant and important files related to their operations. So far, GreenSpacePro is being used by multiple New York cultivators and growing every week.
One of our customers is one of the largest cultivators, Beak & Skiff, the oldest and largest apple orchard in New York, which was established over 100 years ago and run as a family business. From the moment we engaged with the Beak & Skiff team, we were impressed with their passion for their products operations. The feedback received from their operation is clear on why GreenSpacePro helps cultivators stay organized:
“GreenSpacePro allows us to monitor all our supplier licenses and keep compliant with our growing business into the cannabis industry. It is a versatile tool that has allowed us to replace our various other operational management tools, combine it all in one solution and streamline our processes.”
Caitlin Boland, Beak & Skiff
GreenSpacePro has many customers who are managing cannabis retail dispensaries, and our solution helps to simplify, organize, and control the complex set of requirements needed to open and run a compliant dispensary. We have be actively working with the first New York customers that have built and open the first cannabis stores at the end of 2022.