UPDATE: New York Governor's Office Halts Plans for Farmers Market-Style Events This Summer

Farmers market-style events at New York dispensaries are not going to be popping up anytime soon, with Gov. Kathy Hochul's office slowing down plans to implement this new retail opportunity.

Those events, which were announced informally by the Office of Cannabis Management, would have seen licensed growers, processors and retailers partnering on direct-to-consumer sales outside existing retail shops. The idea was to galvanize an adult-use market that's been slow to roll out under the OCM's guidance.

See below for our original story on this topic.

"It was always going to be a challenge to quickly promulgate rules that would ensure the type of rigorous safety standards the state has wanted for this market," attorney Jamie Ansorge told CBT. "It’s understandable that everyone is looking for creative ways to ease the glut of biomass and provide relief to farmers, but the best thing to do is for OCM to finalize their rule package and open many more dispensaries ASAP. It’s unfortunate that the medical operators could have easily co-located 30 adult-use stores by now, and thousands of other retail operators are still waiting in the wings to start buying the farmers’ products."

In other words: Stay tuned.

***

Originally published May 30

Last week, the New York Office of Cannabis Management announced early plans to allow new pathways for direct sales to consumers in the state’s fledgling adult-use marketplace. Dubbed the New York Cannabis Growers Showcase, this proposal would see licensed businesses setting up temporary shop in a farmers market environment, placing products in front of consumers and moving the state’s steadily growing supply.

The plan would call for a minimum of three licensed growers and one licensed retailer to come together to host a farmers market-style event. Menus would include flower products and prerolls.  

Early social media feedback has been supportive, mostly due to the state’s limited retail rollout to date. As of May 30, only 12 cannabis dispensaries were operational in New York, with the first opening in December 2022. (Last fall, Gov. Kathy Hochul said that “another 20” would open every month thereafter.)  

“This really came about because the retail landscape has really not been as robust as it was really set out to be and cultivators across the state grew a lot of cannabis in 2022,” Brittany Carbone, CEO of TONIC CBD and board member of the Cannabis Association of New York, told WGRZ. “For people who have not been able to see any revenue from the last season it's very difficult to be able to reinvest in this coming season and from the retailers' point of view there's been a lot of hold-ups.” 

Final details on the Growers Showcase are still to come, with the OCM allowing another month to set this plan in motion.

Several major questions remain: Will this be a permanent fixture or a pilot program? Will these events be required to take place on that one retailer’s property? Will these events require local approval on top of the existing retail license?

Attorney Wei Hu suggested state law itself may present a hurdle.

“I think it's great at a consumer level, but I don't think it's permitted under the law,” he said in an interview. “I've taught administrative and regulatory law, and the thing is that you could propose regulations, but the regulations cannot conflict with law—the statutes. That’s what it seems to do here. State law has restrictions saying, in the statutes, that the cultivator here cannot sell directly to consumers—that's expressed prohibition under law. But they're trying to create a reg to skirt around it. I think, technically, the law needs to be amended, but that's just me.”

That may be part of the OCM’s work over the next few weeks. More information is expected within the month.

Associate Editor Tony Lange contributed to this report.