New York’s medical cannabis tax revenues are far less than anticipated as officials are expecting just $1 million after budgeting for $4 million when the program was announced, Politico reports. The revenues, which officials do not expect to grow over the next three years, come from a 7 percent excise tax on medical cannabis sales.
The first full year of the state’s limited medical cannabis program has experienced growing pains. In August, three of the state’s five licensed producers indicated they were still not profitable; at that time PharmaCann representative estimated that it would be another 18 months before they moved into the black. Last week one of those five companies, New York City operator Bloomfield Industries, was purchased by California-based MedMen. According to a previous Politico report, Bloomfield was experiencing “financial constraints.”
However, the state Health Department did expand access to the program by adding chronic pain to the qualifying condition list, and allowing physician assistants and nurse practitioners to certify patients for medical cannabis use.
According to Department of Health data, there are currently 12,530 registered patients and 824 registered practitioners under the program, up from the 10,730 patients and 750 practitioners counted in the agency’s two-year report released in December.