The governor of New York has signed a pair of companion bills into law that build on the state’s marijuana farmers market program, allowing expanded partnerships between licensed cannabis businesses and standalone “pop-up” events.
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) gave final approval to the bills from Sen. Michelle Hinchey (D) and Assemblymember Donna Lupardo (D) on Thursday.
New York initially authorized cannabis farmers market events in 2023, aiming to expedite consumers access as traditional retailers were being approved and help producers bring their products directly to market. Last December, Hochul separately signed legislation to revive the program after it sunsetted in January 2024.
The newly enacted measures will expand the law. For example, they amend statute by making it so licensed retailers would need to partner with a “minimum” of one cultivator and one processor for the showcase events, whereas previously the law indicated that they were limited to only one partnership for each of those licensing categories.
Showcase permittees will also now be mandated to sell products cultivated or processed by those partnering licensees at the events, though the bills make clear they could also sell other products.
Further, the legislation states that each retail licensee participating in a farmers market event must received a permit if there are multiple retailers operating at the same event. And each of those permittees would be required to meet the minimum partnership requirement with at least one cultivator and processor.
The bills take effect 120 days after enactment.
The farmers market events as originally authorized were largely responsive to the slow roll-out of New York’s adult-use marijuana program, which faced multiple delays in implementation amid litigation. But the state’s industry has gradually expanded, with officials in January touting $1 billion in total sales since the market launched.
Regulators have said that the significant uptick in licensing approvals has been coupled a successful crackdown on unlicensed shops, which proliferated in the early month of legalization being enacted.
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Meanwhile, state officials recently launched a grant program that will award up to $30,000 apiece to retail marijuana businesses to help cover startup costs.
Also, earlier this year, a collective of businesses licensed under the CAURD program called on Hochul to forgive tens of millions of dollars in high-cost loans issued under a governor-created social equity loan fund.
Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes (D) said in December that there’s a need to extend financial aid to CAURD license holders, many of whom are struggling under the high-cost loans.
Critics—including the NAACP New York State Conference, Black Cannabis Industry Association, Minority Cannabis Business Association, Service Disabled Veterans in Cannabis Association, Drug Policy Alliance, NYC NORML and VOCAL-NY—wrote to the governor earlier that month to express dismay at what they described as marijuana regulators’ “efforts in service of big corporations at the expense of small business and equity outcomes.”
The advocates said at the time that since the departure of the state’s first chief cannabis regulator, Chris Alexander, last may May, state officials had demonstrated a “shift toward corporate interests at the expense of small business, justice-involved entrepreneurs, and Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licensees who are directly impacted by prior marijuana arrest.”
Last month, regulators also launched a new resource meant to connect licensed marijuana businesses with banks that are willing to work with the industry, even as federal prohibition continues to pose barriers to financial services.
In 2023, the governor signed legislation that aims to make it slightly easier for financial institutions to work with state-licensed cannabis clients.
The law authorized OCM to provide financial institutions with information about marijuana business licensees or applicants, which is meant to ease compliance with reporting requirements. Licensees and applicants would first have to consent to information being shared.
A recent budget proposal from Hochul aims to empower police who claim to smell marijuana to force a driver to take a drug test—a plan that’s drawing pushback not just from reform advocates but also from the state’s Assembly majority leader and the governor-appointed head of OCM.
Meanwhile in New York, the state Senate earlier this month approved a bill to expand housing protections for registered medical marijuana patients, aiming to prevent evictions based solely on their lawful use of cannabis.
Senators this session have also introduced a bill for the 2025 session to broadly decriminalize drug possession.
Several psychedelics bills have also been filed in New York—including one calling for the legalization of certain entheogenic substances such as psilocybin and ibogaine for adults 21 and older.
The governor argued in June, meanwhile, that there’s a direct correlation between stepped-up enforcement and “dramatically” increased legal sales. A report by state officials last year found both “growing pains” and “successful efforts” in New York’s marijuana market launch.
Photo courtesy of California State Fair.
The post New York Governor Signs Bills To Expand State’s Marijuana Farmers Market Program With ‘Pop-Up’ Events appeared first on Marijuana Moment.
