Farmers in upstate New York have produced nearly 300,000 pounds of weed, valued at three-quarters of a billion dollars. However, only a few state-licensed retail marijuana businesses have opened their doors since recreational sales started.
The state has licensed more farms than dispensaries, creating a surplus of unsold produce.
Certification And Distribution Bottlenecks
At Hudson Cannabis, which is licensed to produce 43,000 square feet of cannabis flowers, Melany Dobson “has 2,700 pounds of old buds stacked to the ceiling in storage containers awaiting certification from one of the five state testing laboratories,” writes The Guardian. This amount of weed would be valued at $800,000 based on wholesale prices.
Additionally, interstate trade is illegal. “The regulations are confounding,” said Scott Solomon of OSS Inc, a risk management company involved in providing secure transportation. “In New York, businesses have none of the resources of the big cannabis players.”
How About Social Equity Applicants?
New York lawmakers, in session for 2023, are strangely mum about the state’s failure to raise the $150 million for the much-heralded social equity fund and its role in the state’s legal cannabis rollout.
Despite this outlook, the industry is expected to generate 63,000 jobs across New York by 2025, according to a CannaBiz Team report.
The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference Is Back!
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