“This deal legalizing marijuana is the result of closed-door discussions between leaders of one political party and a governor who is engulfed in scandal,” said Rob Ortt, the Republican leader in the Senate. “The outcome of these partisan negotiations is a deeply flawed piece of legislation that will hurt the health and safety of New Yorkers.”
The state’s recreational cannabis program will be run by two new government entities: the Cannabis Control Board, which will craft new regulations, and the Office of Cannabis Management, which will implement the regulations.
They will be in charge of creating and allocating licenses for businesses seeking to enter any facet of the supply chain, from the farming of cannabis to the processing of the plant into edibles, concentrates and smokable products.
There will be licenses for distributors who would sell cannabis wholesale to retailers, including dispensaries where individuals will be able to buy cannabis products and “consumption sites” where people will be allowed to smoke or ingest the products.
The tiered system of licenses is meant to create a division among those who produce, wholesale and retail the products, like in the alcohol market. Most businesses would only be allowed to have one type of license to avoid a few players from consolidating the entire market. Most dispensaries, for example, will not be able to also grow and distribute cannabis.
But that will not apply to the state’s few, but influential medical cannabis corporations, which currently operate about 40 dispensaries statewide. Those companies will be allowed to keep their operations vertically integrated, meaning they could cultivate, process and sell cannabis.
Supporters said the new law has guardrails to prevent a few companies from dominating the market and to stem suspicions that wealthy, white investors would reap most of the benefits, which critics say is what has happened in other states.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/31/nyregion/cuomo-ny-legal-weed.html
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