I work in legal cannabis. We can still get legal weed right in NY | Opinion
When I was just 17 years old, the trajectory of my life was significantly altered when I was pulled over not far from my family’s home by a local police officer who searched my vehicle.
By the night’s end, I had been charged with drug possession. Months later, I was convicted and had a criminal record. As a result, a lot of professional doors were closed to me. Instead, I turned to entrepreneurship, which — ironically — led me to the legal cannabis market.
In 2014, I launched an indoor cannabis growing equipment wholesaler and supplier with my husband and business partner. After a lot of hard work, we have grown our start-up enterprise into a nationwide operation that services hundreds of retail stores across the country.
We were incredibly excited by the 2021 Marihuana Regulation & Taxation Act (MRTA), which promised to give people with stories and records like mine a change to reap the rewards of the emerging legal adult-use market. The MRTA established a blueprint for making New York a national leader in social equity, prioritizing benefits and participation for individuals and communities disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs.
Two years later, the state has failed to realize the MRTA’s promises, and justice-involved licensees like me are teetering on the edge of crisis. Albany must act quickly to pass S.7045 — the Cannabis Adult-Use Transition Act — to address challenges in the legal market before it collapses altogether.
Based on my successful business history and my past cannabis conviction, I applied for a Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary license as a minority-run business. I also co-founded the New York CAURD Coalition, an organization that works to support and provide resources to CAURD applicants and license holders.
Due to the state’s incredibly slow roll-out of the adult-use market, CAURD licensees are having trouble accessing the capital, locations, and resources they need to open their doors. Meanwhile, social-equity cannabis entrepreneurs who are operational are struggling to compete with the booming illicit market. While the state has recently taken steps to address the illicit market, unregulated dispensaries continue to operate, putting consumers unnecessarily at risk.
Thousands of New Yorkers like me were promised the opportunity of redemption in what should be a highly profitable, legal market. Yet, two years later, New York’s cannabis program looks nothing like the one envisioned, and victims of cannabis prohibition are in danger of becoming victims of a failed legal cannabis program.
But hope is not lost. The CAUTA, recently introduced by state Sen. Jeremy Cooney, can be a lifeline for regulators and shore up New York’s cannabis programs — both adult-use and medical — before they become past the point of saving.
This stopgap bill will codify CAURD licenses. It will also provide licensees with immediate access to capital through low-interest loans and grants, along with administrative support to become operational as quickly as possible. This will help realize the MRTA’s promise by creating jobs and increasing tax revenue for communities that have borne the brunt of cannabis criminalization.
Though New York’s diverse cannabis community often don’t see eye-to-eye, the majority of its stakeholders — including growers, processors, retailers, organized labor, and medical providers — are united behind the CAUTA, because we realize the industry needs immediate intervention to survive and thrive.
When fully implemented, the MRTA has the power to fulfill the social equity hopes and elevate thousands of New Yorkers. The CAURD community is looking to lawmakers to uphold the promise of that landmark legislation. As a state, we still have the chance to be the gold standard for equity, but we need to act now.
Britni Tantalo is the president of Flower City Dispensary in Rochester and co-owner of Flower City Hydroponics; she is also CEO of the NY CAURD Coalition, a group of New York cannabis retail dispensary applicants and licensees.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: NY Legal Weed Cannabis Adult-Use Transition Act
