Cannabis Advisory Board Asking For More Feedback About Proposed Policies

ALBANY, N.Y. — While the state has repeatedly said it expects New York's first legal recreational cannabis sales to happen before the end of the year, dispensaries in Western New York still haven't been granted conditional use licenses because of an ongoing lawsuit.

And, the Cannabis Advisory Board is still looking for feedback on a lot of its proposed policies.

While local growers, like the one we met this summer, have cannabis ready for processors, a lawsuit is preventing the Office of Cannabis Management from issuing Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licenses in our region.

"We are harvesting August, September, October, November, and December. This just happens to be the first one to actually come out of Western New York," said Todd Giolando, local cannabis cultivator.

Thirty-six CAURD licenses were already granted in other parts of the state.

One of the only questions asked by a member of the Cannabis Advisory Board at its Thursday morning meeting was about that lawsuit.

"What's going to be happening with that delay and are there going to be any, I guess, any strategy in supporting those licensees that potentially may not be first to market? That makes it very exciting," asked the board member.

"Yeah, I appreciate that and, um, you know, we uh, we're not going to discuss the litigation in this public forum, but to give clarification, there was an injunction that was assessed on our, on five of the regions that, for the CAURD program, licenses have not been issued in those five regions. We're going to, you know, as we, as you've seen we've advanced licenses in other regions across the state. And so, you know, we'll keep you posted as things move forward, but we'll continue to issue licenses outside of the enjoined areas," said Chris Alexander, Executive Director of the Office of Cannabis Management.

The state's website still says "CAURD licensees are positioned to make New York's first legal cannabis sales before the end of 2022."

Thursday morning, we also got updates on proposed packaging.

"Revisions further include allowing licensees to include more than one logo or brand element on a package, which allows them to co-brand with other licensees, removing the requirement for a plain white background and black text on the front of the package," said Lyla Hunt, Deputy Policy Director for Public Health and Campaigns with the Office of Cannabis Management.Right now, the board is collecting feedback on about 300-pages worth of proposals.Click here for the resto of the story!