NEW YORK — Recreational marijuana dispensaries are already doing strong business in New Jersey, with nine slated to open in Connecticut in January 2023.
But a date has not yet been announced in New York – a slow release that is creating a conundrum with cannabis. Local growers who obtained the first licenses set their farm on legal marijuana. But now they have half a billion dollars worth of ready-to-sell cannabis, with no takers.
The first harvest for the state’s marijuana pioneers came with high expectations.
“We’re like when Prohibition started, like starting a Budweiser factory or a brewery or something,” said Ryan McGrath of Hudson River Farms.
But lately, excitement about the fledgling business has turned to fear for the more than 200 licensed cannabis growers in New York City, like McGrath’s farm in Dutchess County.
“It’s scary, because we just don’t know,” said Colin Brogan, who also works for the farm.
Trapped in secure storage for weeks, there are nearly 2,000 pounds of cannabis, on this farm alone. But there is nowhere to sell it.
“Until we have that last piece of the supply chain, the dispensaries that can actually sell to a consumer, everyone is in the same boat and we’re sitting around, waiting to sell to someone,” Hudson River Farms said. “Alex Keenan.
Wait, since there are hundreds of millions of dollars worth of marijuana statewide, which could lose value if they can’t keep it fresh.
When asked when they’d need answers from the state’s Office of Cannabis Management, Keenan said, “We’d love to hear some answers now, frankly.”
The state approved only the first 36 dispensary licenses in late November. However, they continue to assure growers that the retail stores will be up and running by the end of the year, which is about two weeks from now.
“Personally, I think it’s probably overkill, but I hope so,” Keenan said.
“For me, that could mean an open shop before the end of the year,” said the less optimistic McGrath. “It’s not enough for us because we’re one of 200 farms that produce this stuff.”
When asked about the farm’s concerns, the Office of Cannabis Management said the program remains the same and that they are “incredibly proud of our local family farmers and excited for New Yorkers to start trying this tried and true cannabis” grown in the sun.
So what happens to all that grass and what does the farm do in the meantime?
“I’ll be doing a lot of R&D,” Brogan said with a smile.
Hudson River Farms said it could survive until about March before being forced to invest in long-term storage options. They can’t even sell it to neighboring New Jersey or Massachusetts due to federal law.
“Because it’s federally illegal, so you can’t do anything interstate. You can’t cross state lines with it,” McGrath said.
While licensed growers are locked into this detention scheme, illegal sales have taken off. Unlicensed tobacco shops keep popping up across the state.
“The illegal market is definitely a concern for us, because it’s more competition,” McGrath told our sister network. Nbc New York. “Here we’re following all the rules, laws, regulations, following testing. You don’t know what you get in a cellar.”
Keenan said there could be a “huge problem” for all cannabis farms in the state if they can’t start selling weed before preparing to plant next year’s crop in the spring.
“When we install our next rigs, in May, if we’re still sitting on what we have here, we have a big problem,” he said. “And it’s not just us, it’s all the farms.”
