New York Regulators Approve First Round Of Marijuana Cultivation Licenses And Revise Medical Cannabis Home Grow Rules
New York regulators on Thursday voted to grant conditional marijuana cultivation licenses to a number of hemp businesses as one of the first steps toward ensuring an adequate supply of cannabis when the state’s adult-use market launches later this year.
And separately, the Cannabis Control Board (CCB) approved revised regulations to allow medical marijuana patients to grow their own plants for personal use following a public comment period on initial rules that were proposed last year.
It’s been about a year since an adult-use legalization bill was enacted into law, and regulators have spent months preparing for implementation. At CCB’s meeting on Thursday, members approved 52 conditional cultivation licenses. More than 150 applications had been submitted, and remaining applicants will continue to be reviewed on a rolling basis.
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed a bill from Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes (D) and Sen. Michelle Hinchey (D) to create conditional licenses in February. The intent is to allow existing hemp operators to get a head start on growing marijuana to meet demand for the forthcoming industry.
“New York’s farms have been the backbone of our state’s economy since before the American Revolution, and now, New York’s farms will be at the center of the most equitable cannabis industry in the nation,” Hochul said in a press release on Thursday. “I’m proud to announce the first adult-use cannabis cultivation licenses in the state, and I’m proud of the work the Office of Cannabis Management and the Cannabis Control Board are doing to get adult-use cannabis sales up and running as fast as possible without compromising our mission to uplift communities and individuals most impacted by the past century of cannabis prohibition.”
Conditional cultivator licensees needed to have been authorized by the state Department of Agriculture to grow hemp as of December 31, 2021—and have grown the crop for two of the past four years. They’re also required to “participate in an environmental sustainability program and a social equity mentorship program.”
Meanwhile, regulators also advanced a rule last month to make it so people with prior marijuana convictions, or whose family members have been harmed by criminalization, will get the first round of adult-use marijuana retailer licenses—ahead of existing medical cannabis businesses. A recent poll found that most New Yorkers voters are against that proposal.
The licensing development is one part of what the Hochul administration is calling the “Seeding Opportunity Initiative,” which she also announced last month.
Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) Executive Director Chris Alexander said that he expects upwards of 200 “justice involved” applicants to receive the priority licenses under the proposal, with retailers potentially coming online by the year’s end.
Advocates are separately encouraged by the approval of a new revised rule providing a home grow option for medical marijuana patients. After filing the initial regulations late last year, the proposal was amended and is now generally more lax on restrictions.
In general, the rule would allow registered patients and caregivers to grow up to six plants, only three of which could be mature. They could possess up to five pounds of cannabis derived from those plants, which is consistent with the state’s adult-use legalization law.
But with input from the public, regulators made certain changes in the latest iteration, initiating a new 45-day public comment period. For example, it now clarifies that plants can be grown outdoors, but they must still be enclosed and not visible to the public.
It also removes language requiring that patients and caregivers grow marijuana “in a reasonable manner that prioritizes attempts at mitigating cannabis odor.”
Another previous provision stipulating that patients should install and maintain security devices to prevent underage people from accessing the plants was removed.
With respect to caregivers, the new rule clarifies that they can grow for up to four patients and would be permitted to have a maximum of 12 plants for those patients at any one time.
Landlords would be able to refuse to lease to or penalize tenants “if failing to do so would cause the landlord to lose a monetary or licensing related benefit under federal law or regulations” under the newly proposed rule.
Finally, regulators also included provisions laying out rules for licensed businesses that sell marijuana plants or seeds for home grow purposes, including requirements for labeling such products to list strain names and potential potency.
