(The Center Square) — Gov. Kathy Hochul is expanding New York’s recreational cannabis industry while touting the state’s efforts to crack down on black market pot sales.
Hochul announced the largest expansion of the state’s legal cannabis market this week, making hundreds of licenses available to individuals and businesses interested in legally growing, processing, distributing and selling the drug. The application process got underway on Wednesday, and the deadline to apply for licenses is Dec. 4, she said.
Meanwhile, Hochul is touting the state’s efforts to crack down on black market pot sales that have proliferated amid a slow rollout of the new industry. The Office of Cannabis Management and the Department of Taxation and Finance have seized over 8,500 pounds of illicit pot with a street value of more than $42 million, she said.
“We know there’s room for improvement as New York works to launch a brand-new cannabis industry and crack down on illicit operators, and I’m committed to working with all stakeholders to get the job done right,” the governor said in a statement.
Hochul said the pot market is being expanded in phases to ensure it “grows in a stable way, avoiding the price shocks and collapses seen in other states that have resulted in the failure of small businesses and significant contractions in overall market value.”
New York legalized recreational cannabis in 2021 under legislation signed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, allowing cultivation and retail sales and setting up a system of taxation and regulation for the new industry. To date, about 20 retail pot shops have opened, state regulators say.
Under the law approved by the state Legislature, regulators gave the first retail cannabis licenses to convicted pot dealers as part of a licensing program that is now being challenged in the courts.
The rollout has been slowed by legal challenges, including a ruling by a New York judge that halted new licenses under a program that favors people with previous drug conviction charges. The ruling stemmed from a legal challenge by veterans who argue the system of issuing licenses to certain social equity applicants violates the state Constitution.
Illegal storefront operations have proliferated over the past year amid the delays in licensing legal pot shops, prompting calls to Hochul to crackdown on unlicensed sales.
In April, Hochul launched a taxpayer-funded public education campaign calling on pot users to “buy legal” and urging them to avoid the black market.
Despite preliminary estimates projecting sales of more than $1 billion in 2023, state regulators said last month the adult-use sales in New York state have generated only $16.5 million since the first dispensary opened in December.
To date, at least 23 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. territory of Guam have legalized recreational marijuana, to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Thirty-eight states have medical marijuana programs.
