Budget deal ends marijuana potency tax and targets illegal shops in New York April 19, 2024 AggregatedNews New York 0 Comments The state budget that’s expected to be adopted in the coming days calls for repealing the potency tax on marijuana products as well as new regulations intended to give local municipalities, including New York City, the ability to more easily inspect and… Read More→
The Battle Over Zaza Waza: A Lifelong Liberal Joins New York’s Weed War April 12, 2024 AggregatedNews Black Market, New York 0 Comments When an illegal smoke shop opened across the street, Gale Brewer, a local councilwoman, vowed to close it. What happened next was “like a Fellini movie.” The informal walking tour came to a pause on Amsterdam Avenue, outside a brick… Read More→
NY Regulators Forge Ahead April 12, 2024 Tom Hymes New York, News & Insights 0 Comments The parade of legal actions that has beleaguered New York’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) seemingly forever was hardly mentioned during Thursday’s meeting (viewable here) of the Cannabis Control Board (CCB), but it was in the room. Chair Tremaine Wright,… Read More→
New York eyes crackdown on illicit weed shops. Will it work? April 10, 2024 AggregatedNews New York 0 Comments New York’s elected officials can agree on one thing when it comes to the state’s troubled marijuana market: The state must do something about the thousands of unlicensed cannabis sellers. And they appear near a deal to give local governments… Read More→
N.Y. Ruling Puts Adult-Use Program On Shaky Ground April 9, 2024 Tom Hymes New York, News & Insights 0 Comments New York experienced two remarkable incidents last week: a near catastrophic legal earthquake on Wednesday, and then an actual 4.8 seismic event on Friday. The latter event swayed buildings and rattled a few east coast nerves, but it was the… Read More→
No, a judge didn’t void all of New York’s legalized marijuana laws. He struck down some April 5, 2024 AggregatedNews New York 0 Comments New York’s cannabis industry was unsettled Thursday by a judge’s ruling that appeared to strike down all regulations governing recreational marijuana in the state. But a key portion of the order turned out to be a mistake. The Wednesday ruling was amended… Read More→
New York’s Marijuana Scorecard: 85 Legal Shops, 2,000 Illegal Ones March 24, 2024 AggregatedNews Black Market, New York, Retail 0 Comments The lack of legal dispensaries and the overwhelming proliferation of illegal ones are the biggest concerns of the rollout three years after legalization. After three years of fits and starts, the rollout of New York’s recreational cannabis market gained speed… Read More→
They Signed Up to Grow Weed. Then New York State Pushed Them Into the Black Market March 22, 2024 AggregatedNews Cultivation, New York 0 Comments Weed legalization was supposed to prioritize mom-and-pop businesses — but for some upstate farmers, things didn't go as planned Just a few months before this, the deal would have seemed impossible: New York’s longtime underground growers, excluded from receiving the… Read More→
New York’s Marijuana Scorecard: 85 Legal Shops, 2,000 Illegal Ones March 22, 2024 AggregatedNews New York 0 Comments After three years of fits and starts, the rollout of New York’s recreational cannabis market gained speed in 2024, most notably with the opening of about 50 licensed dispensaries so far this year. But the licensed retailers, who number about… Read More→
New York Must Figure Out How to Fix Cannabis Mess, Hochul Orders March 18, 2024 AggregatedNews New York 0 Comments Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered a review of the way New York State licenses cannabis businesses after calling the sluggish rollout of legal cannabis a “disaster.” Gov. Kathy Hochul has told New York officials to come up with a fix for… Read More→
Illegal pot shops across New York City are hurting legitimate marijuana dispensaries, Gov. Kathy Hochul says March 4, 2024 AggregatedNews New York 0 Comments Gov. Kathy Hochul says the abundance of illegal marijuana dispensaries in New York is hurting legitimate businesses, and she's asking social media companies to help her crack down on illegal pot shops. The space where Bar Veloce is now on Ninth Avenue may… Read More→
NYC Licensees Press State to Increase Enforcement of Illicit Stores February 29, 2024 Tom Hymes New York, News & Insights, Retail 0 Comments A letter-writing campaign organized by CannabisNYC is urging state lawmakers to engage in “immediate legislative action against the proliferation of unlicensed cannabis storefronts.” The deadline for licensed New York City dispensary owners and others to sign the form letter was… Read More→
Hochul Pushes for Cannabis Crackdown to Get ‘Some Teeth’ February 28, 2024 AggregatedNews Black Market, New York 0 Comments Legal retailers are struggling to get their footing in the face of a much larger illicit market. Gov. Kathy Hochul visited New York City on Wednesday to drum up support for her latest proposals for shutting down the unlicensed marijuana… Read More→
New York Fined Unlicensed Weed Shops More Than $25 Million — and Collected Almost None of That February 24, 2024 AggregatedNews New York 0 Comments The state has levied more than $25 million in fines against unlicensed smoke shops for selling cannabis products since last year, but so far only a minuscule percent of those fines have been collected by both the state Tax Department… Read More→
Grown in Oklahoma, Smoked in New York: Illicit Marijuana’s Legal Roots February 24, 2024 AggregatedNews Black Market, New York, Oklahoma 0 Comments In the dead of night last April, state drug agents in Oklahoma intercepted an 18-wheeler rumbling east toward the Arkansas border smuggling 7,000 pounds of marijuana hidden in security camera boxes. The weed was from licensed farms in Oklahoma, according… Read More→