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On Wednesday, the full Cannabis Advisory Board and the Community Grants Reinvestment Subcommittee met.
Felicia A. B. Reid, the Office of Cannabis Management’s executive deputy director and acting executive director, didn’t attend, but had a recorded video that the Board couldn’t play, so Board Chair Joseph Belluck read her statement.
Dan Haughney, director of enforcement for OCM, gave an update that was very similar to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s talking points at last week’s news conference.
But, Haughney also fielded questions from the Board, during which he gave a number of updates.
What about the unlicensed product coming in to New York State, the Board asked?
“We’re working with a large number of state agencies, including New York State Police. And while we conduct our regulatory inspections, which are administrative in nature, there are other agencies that we are working with, to make sure that we’re going after the sources of the illicit product coming into New York State,” Haughney said.
And what about the unlicensed cannabis that’s been seized, what is that testing like, the Board asked? In other words, what is New York’s illicit market selling?
“We actually had some meetings this week about that. We are going to be getting some samples of our product that we’ve taken, tested, just to show the public what is in these items that were taken from the unlicensed illicit shops,” Haughney said.
John Kagia, director of policy for OCM, also gave market updates that were similar to the last Cannabis Control Board meeting. He did note that he’s seeing some unlicensed shops “voluntarily close,” and he also fielded some questions from the Board.
One was about when retail licensees will be able to open up their second and third locations.
“We haven’t yet made a determination on the timing” for the opening of second and third shops, Kagia said.
It might look like some folks are already opening multiple shops, but those are branding partnerships, Kagia said.
“Now, there are kind of branding and partnership agreements where companies operated by different individuals will have the same operating name. And we’ve seen some instances of that already. But those are not the same entity operating two and three locations,” Kagia said.
The Board asked Kagia to return to a future meeting to discuss a “franchise ordinance.”
And, the Community Grants Reinvestment Subcommittee made some decisions at its meeting.
On the grants front, for example, the Subcommittee set the first round at $100,000. Also, only 501c3s will be eligible, not 501c4s.
What’s next for the grants? There’s still a ways to go. Once the draft is finalized with the Subcommittee discussion and decisions factored in, OCM will circulate a final draft to the CAB Subcommittee.
Regulators will make announcements about their request for applications, including a webpage specifically for the grant applicants and grantees, along with updates about how the funds are being used.
