Slow Start To NY's Legal Pot Market Leaves Farmers Holding The Bag

[TTL News 318]

Quote

 

ARGYLE, N.Y. (AP) — Seth Jacobs has about 100 bins packed with marijuana flower sitting in storage at his upstate New York farm. 

And that’s a problem. There aren’t enough places to sell it.

The 700 pounds (318 kilograms) of pungent flower was harvested last year as part of New York’s first crop of legally grown pot for recreational use. He also has roughly 220 pounds (100 kilograms) of distillate. Months later, there are only a dozen licensed dispensaries statewide to sell what Jacobs and more than 200 other farmers produced.

Now, another growing season is underway and farmers still sitting on much of last year’s harvest are in a financial bind.

“We are really under the gun here. We’re all losing money,” Jacobs recently said at his farm on rolling land near the Vermont border. “Even the most entrepreneurial and ambitious amongst us just can’t move much product in this environment.”

New York pot farmers aren’t the only ones struggling with difficult economic conditions. Marijuana growers in western states have also complained that low prices, tough competition from the black market, high state taxes and federal banking and exporting restrictions have made it tough for legal growers to make money.

But the farmers’ plight in New York is directly tied to the bumpy launch of the state’s recreational pot market.

 

Read the rest here.

[Adam 378]

how long till we are subsidizing THIS segment of agriculture

[KarenK 384]

Not particularly surprising since as usual NY can't get out of it's own way.  They also have the "sticker shop" competition that is apparently illegal, they closed the loopholes to shut them down yet it's still not really being enforced and they just reopen again the next day.

[Zapp Brannigan 147]

I would not touch any of the Legal grown for the legal dispensaries. The testing standards are lower than what it should be so moldy crops are getting through.  Not to mention the prices and taxes they are charging. Its to easy these days to meet a local growers and deal with them direct. Id rather deal with the small batch growers actually putting time and effort into the end results over the mass grown machine trimmed state crap. They are also inflating the numbers for the supposed potency well above what it really is. 

As far as sticker stores they do provide a safer place to buy than the pssss hey you guy in the shady dark alley. As long as they are paying taxes and not going over the legal amounts or selling to minors who really cares.

[Chris 2,226]

51 minutes ago, Zapp Brannigan said:

Its to easy these days to meet a local growers

Hell, why not grow your own?

 

[Zapp Brannigan 147]

40 minutes ago, Chris said:

Hell, why not grow your own?

 

Once I renew my medical card I could grow my own but it would have to be in the garage and I get nervous about having the lights running all day. 

[KarenK 384]

2 hours ago, Zapp Brannigan said:

Once I renew my medical card I could grow my own but it would have to be in the garage and I get nervous about having the lights running all day. 

It's legal to grow 3 plants per adult household member now. 

[Zapp Brannigan 147]

1 hour ago, KarenK said:

It's legal to grow 3 plants per adult household member now. 

Not quite yet still only for medical patients and up to 6 3 mature 3 immature maximum of 12.  Regular home cultivation is suppose to  start when the OCM issues regulations governing home cultivation which is supposed to happen within 18 months of the first adult use retail sale. 

[TTL News 318]

Governor Hochul has announced a crack down on "sticker stores" in the state:

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the launch of an interagency initiative to cease the sale of untested cannabis from unlicensed storefronts and trucks. Enforcement officers from the New York State Office of Cannabis Management and Department of Taxation and Finance conducted inspections at storefront businesses not licensed to sell cannabis and issued Notices of Violation and Orders to Cease Unlicensed Activity, when appropriate. These actions will be replicated across the state to end public sales of untested cannabis by unlicensed businesses. As part of the FY 2024 Budget, Governor Hochul signed critical legislation allowing for these expanded enforcement actions against unlicensed cannabis businesses to take place.

“New York is proud to have undertaken the most equitable legal cannabis roll-out in the nation and the State will not stand idle as unlicensed operators break the law and sell untested products to underage New Yorkers,” Governor Hochul said. “These enforcement actions are critical steps to protect and help those individuals who were promised a shot to start a legal business and be successful. Additionally, these unlicensed operators undermine the State’s efforts to generate substantial funds for a social equity fund that will go into the communities that have been hardest hit by over-prosecution of the cannabis laws in the past.”

Governor Hochul signed legislation allowing for enhanced enforcement of unlicensed cannabis businesses as part of the FY 2024 Budget. The legislation allows the Office of Cannabis Management to assess civil penalties against unlicensed cannabis businesses that would undercut their efforts, with fines of up to $20,000 a day for the most egregious conduct. It also makes it a crime to sell cannabis and cannabis products without a license.

As a result of the legislation, the Department of Taxation and Finance can also conduct regulatory inspections of businesses selling cannabis to determine if appropriate taxes have been paid and levy civil penalties in cases where appropriate taxes have not been paid. The legislation also establishes a new tax fraud crime for businesses that willfully fail to collect or remit required cannabis taxes, or knowingly possess for sale any cannabis on which tax was required to be paid but was not.

By taking decisive action against unlicensed dispensaries, New York State is taking a significant stride towards eradicating unlawful cannabis operations that jeopardize public safety, consumer well-being, and the integrity of New York State's legal cannabis market. This hybrid approach aims to foster a fair and regulated market environment, ensuring consumer protection and bolstering support for licensed cannabis businesses.

[Chris 2,226]

Reading the article about the "state approved" growers, I can't help but think about my own reluctance to participate in anything the government is promoting. Or at least doing it their way. Because they'll toot their own horn, get you on board, but in the end you're gonna be the one left holding the bag.

They didn't think this through very well at all before legalization, and now they're scrambling to recoup whatever benefit they figured THEY would get out of it. 

[KarenK 384]

46 minutes ago, Chris said:

Reading the article about the "state approved" growers, I can't help but think about my own reluctance to participate in anything the government is promoting. Or at least doing it their way. Because they'll toot their own horn, get you on board, but in the end you're gonna be the one left holding the bag.

They didn't think this through very well at all before legalization, and now they're scrambling to recoup whatever benefit they figured THEY would get out of it. 

And still they close those shops, fine them and they are reopened the next day.  Clearly they are making enough money that the fines are not bothering them a bit.

I have purchased by CBD products from Head and Heal for years.  They operate Florist Farms out of Cortland and were the first farm to be licensed to sell legal MJ in the state through dispensaries.  I have always had very good results with their products.  Kind of wish a dispensary was closer than Ithaca or Binghamton.  They seem to be doing well.  

Sticker shops make me nervous.  I have no idea where that stuff comes from and no idea if they are also using moldy products.

[Adam 378]

On 6/6/2023 at 9:56 AM, Zapp Brannigan said:

As long as they are paying taxes and not going over the legal amounts

seems to be part of the issue. many of the shops are going out of state, bringing supplies back in trunks of cars so its difficult to know its not laced, or licensed/taxed. got no issue with them doing business, but it needs to be legit

[Zapp Brannigan 147]

14 hours ago, KarenK said:

And still they close those shops, fine them and they are reopened the next day.  Clearly they are making enough money that the fines are not bothering them a bit.

I have purchased by CBD products from Head and Heal for years.  They operate Florist Farms out of Cortland and were the first farm to be licensed to sell legal MJ in the state through dispensaries.  I have always had very good results with their products.  Kind of wish a dispensary was closer than Ithaca or Binghamton.  They seem to be doing well.  

Sticker shops make me nervous.  I have no idea where that stuff comes from and no idea if they are also using moldy products.

World Piece in Elmira is the only one I go to. They do no present themselves as a sticker store and its not skeeby at all. They participate in all the downtown events and even have some of their own. There are no stickers but rather craft goods which they make with a glow forge and make some pretty awesome stuff.  Friendly bunch of ladies are usually working at the shop I would recommend checking them out on facebook. They also have a discord where we generally chat and growers share pictures and are available for questions.

They deal with local growers

I recommend anything from The New Stone Age (these guys are phenomenal growers all organic. Very friendly brothers out of Binghamton. Generally they sell out pretty quickly so I buy direct from them when they come to town.

Brilliant organics is out of Ithaca I have not met her but she came recommended from the stone age guys and that's good enough for me. I hope to meet them so I can make that direct connection and save some money.

The newest one Q cultivation is pretty good as well. They also sell out pretty fast.

Along the lines of edibles they stock High As Hades who are out of Waverly they make tinctures, salves, vape carts and various edibles and drinks. Also Dazed and infused which I believe they only stock his gummies. Finally they do have their own homemade in house edibles they usually run about 6.00 and they vary cookies cupcakes brownies and do pack a punch. 

 

Going to the Ithaca or Binghamton you are getting mass produced and machine trimmed with very little quality control. You're more likely to get moldy weed from them than you are one of the growers above. 

 

  

[MsKreed 1,204]

On 6/5/2023 at 3:51 PM, KarenK said:

Not particularly surprising since as usual NY can't get out of it's own way. 

This!!!

It seems to be the SOP for any state project. If they had just used alcohol production and sales as a template, it would probably be running pretty smoothly by now.

From growing, to production, to sales.....it shouldn’t be any more convoluted than what wineries have been doing forever. The market forces would have kicked in to make it flourish like alcohol production and sales.

But nope.....they had to tack on some vague “social justice” concept to issuing permits and licenses at every stage.  That just frustrates the "eligible" businesses that sit and wait for the system to work, and encourages under-the-table options. 

[Chris 2,226]

29 minutes ago, MsKreed said:

That just frustrates the "eligible" businesses that sit and wait for the system to work...

Right! Why try and do things "the right way" when you're being hobbled before the race even starts?