New York state is expanding the places where legal cannabis can be sold, allowing licensed cannabis microbusinesses and dispensaries to participate in approved farmers markets, pop-ups and community events.<\/p>\n
The new law is intended to create more sales opportunities for small, local cannabis operators. But the events will not be open cannabis markets. Businesses must secure local approval and a location-specific permit from the state Office of Cannabis Management before sales can begin.<\/p>\n
At a traditional farmers market, shoppers expect to find locally grown produce, baked goods and handmade products. Under the new law, they may also find legal cannabis products sold through approved Cannabis Showcase Events.<\/p>\n
Dan and Rose Fera are husband and wife and majority partners in Goldfinch Flora, and they own Leaning Birch Farm, while their son, Nic, is co-owner and operator of Goldfinch Flora. The change gives a small business another direct path to customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt allows us as a small farm to be able to do like we do with our vegetables and sell directly to our customers,\u201d Rose Fera said.<\/p>\n
She said the opportunity is about more than a new sales location. She said being face-to-face with customers allows growers to explain how their products are made and what distinguishes them from others in the regulated market.<\/p>\n
\u201cTalk about our product. Talk about how it\u2019s grown. Give them, you know, all the information we can about its effects, things like that, in a way that even the best educated bartenders just can\u2019t, because we grew it,\u201d Fera said.<\/p>\n
Rose Fera also serves on the board of the Schenectady Greenmarket, where she said discussions are beginning about what the law could mean for markets and vendors. Any cannabis seller would face requirements that do not apply to a typical food or craft vendor.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to need to do things with our booths so that probably have, you know, walls at least most of the way up so that you can\u2019t see right in and directly see the product, because we\u2019re going to have to follow those, those regs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Office of Cannabis Management said the goal is to help the legal market reach consumers while maintaining safeguards.<\/p>\n
John Kagia, OCM\u2019s executive director, said the change recognizes the scale of adult cannabis demand in New York.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of this process of normalization is to ensure that cannabis can take its appropriate place within the communities, particularly given the scale of demand that we see across the state,\u201d Kagia said.<\/p>\n
Each permit is tied to a specific location. Events can run for up to 14 consecutive days, and one location cannot host Cannabis Showcase Events for more than 45 days in a calendar year.<\/p>\n
The state says sales areas must be restricted to adults 21 and older. On-site consumption, free samples and giveaways are prohibited. Municipal approval is required before OCM can approve a showcase-event permit, and farmers market organizers must also approve events held at their markets.<\/p>\n
For businesses like Goldfinch Flora, the next steps are finding a willing market or event venue, obtaining municipal approval and applying to OCM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York state is expanding the places where legal cannabis can be sold, allowing licensed cannabis microbusinesses and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":988618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[40737,5229,40736,405,403,17050,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,80,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,5284],"class_list":["post-988617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-albany-capital-region","tag-america","tag-corey-james","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-state","tag-news","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-politics","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-vod"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117059047206520355","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=988617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/988618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=988617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=988617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=988617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}