Adult-use cannabis products are expected to hit dispensary shelves in New York this fall, according to a top state official.
Cannabis Control Board Chair Tremaine Wright provided details about the program April 23 at a public forum hosted by the Central Harlem Community Board, Syracuse.com reported.
In sharing insight into New York’s adult-use cannabis cultivator and retail conditional licensing programs that the state launched last month, Wright said conditional dispensary license holders will be eligible to receive loans with interest—as opposed to grants or interest-free loans—and that the funding will come from a $200 million cannabis social equity fund, which Gov. Kathy Hochul announced during her State of the State address in January.
“Loan funds will be provided to our conditional dispensary licensees,” Wright said Saturday, according to Syracuse.com. “I want you to think about this as a franchise model: these folks don’t get to pick where their location is, they will have a lot of assistance on buildout, and they will repay their loans.”
The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) released a Request for Information in February, Syracuse.com reported, to gauge interest among possible investment partners in a program that would finance all expenses related to the sourcing, leasing, planning, design, construction and equipping of conditional license holders’ dispensaries.
Then, in March, the Cannabis Control Board approved draft rules for conditional retail licensees and earmarked the first adult-use dispensary licenses for applicants with cannabis-related convictions.
Wright said Saturday that the Cannabis Control Board would like to eventually establish a grant program, as well as a zero-interest loan program, Syracuse.com reported. She also said that the Cannabis Control Board anticipates a maximum of 200 conditional dispensary licenses in the state.
On the cultivation side of the market, Hochul signed legislation in February to allow New York’s hemp businesses to grow cannabis for the state’s forthcoming adult-use market.
The Cannabis Control Board at its April 14 meeting unanimously approved the first 50 conditional licenses for hemp farmers to cultivate cannabis, and some of the new licensees could harvest their first crops as soon as September or October.