New York regulators on Thursday voted to grant conditional cannabis cultivation licenses to a number of hemp businesses as one of the first steps toward ensuring an adequate supply of cannabis when the state’s adult-use market launches later this year.
And separately, the Cannabis Control Board (CCB) approved revised regulations to allow medical cannabis patients to grow their own plants for personal use following a public comment period on initial rules that were proposed last year.
It’s been about a year since an adult-use legalization bill was enacted into law, and regulators have spent months preparing for implementation. At CCB’s meeting on Thursday, members approved 52 conditional cultivation licenses. More than 150 applications had been submitted, and remaining applicants will continue to be reviewed on a rolling basis.
“New York’s farms have been the backbone of our state’s economy since before the American Revolution, and now, New York’s farms will be at the center of the most equitable cannabis industry in the nation,” Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said in a press release on Thursday. “I’m proud to announce the first adult-use cannabis cultivation licenses in the state, and I’m proud of the work the Office of Cannabis Management and the Cannabis Control Board are doing to get adult-use cannabis sales up and running as fast as possible without compromising our mission to uplift communities and individuals most impacted by the past century of cannabis prohibition.”
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