New York City Mayor Proposes $4.8M for Cannabis Business Assistance

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) is proposing $4.8 million in his Fiscal Year 2023 Executive Budget for cannabis businesses, including funds for technical and licensing assistance. The investments would focus on communities most impacted by the “war on drugs” and include a multi-agency outreach effort.

“The cannabis industry could be a major boon to our economic recovery – creating new jobs, building wealth in historically underserved communities, and increasing state and local tax revenue. With a new regulated adult-use cannabis market on the immediate horizon, now is the time for our city to make proactive investments to ensure the people disproportionately impacted by the criminalization of these substances can reap the benefits of the new industry.” – Adams in a press release

The plan is part of Adams’ “Renew, Rebuild, Reinvent: A Blueprint for New York City’s Economic Recovery” campaign plank, which calls for a partnership with state and local leaders to build the nation’s most equitable cannabis industry. In New York, the adult-use cannabis industry is expected to generate nearly $1.3 billion in sales in its first year and support between 19,000 and 24,000 jobs within three years, the Mayor’s Office said.

The multiagency effort will include targeted outreach and resources from the New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS), the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC), and the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ) which will work in tandem to begin identifying stakeholders in impacted communities, launching a public education tour, promoting an educational media campaign, and assessing the needs of interested parties so they can better tailor their services and programs to assist those interested in participating in the industry.

Chris Alexander, Executive Director of the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), said the agency is “working to build the most robust, equitable and thoughtful cannabis industry in the nation” and that the OCM “deeply appreciate[s] the support” of the Adams administration.

“New York City has been a cultural capital for cannabis for decades,” he said in a statement. “Governor Kathy Hochul has been a champion at the state level, and I appreciate Mayor Adams’ championing us at the city level by establishing multi-agency efforts to make sure New York City also becomes the business capital for cannabis too.”