New York’s First Cannabis Growers Showcase Opens Today

New York’s first “Cannabis Growers Showcase” is set to open today in a municipal parking lot in New Paltz, the Times-Union reports. The showcases are similar to a farmer’s market and New York is the first and only state to allow cannabis sales via such a program.  

Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) officials said the event will operate weekly for the rest of the year or until the first retail cannabis store opens in New Paltz. The showcase is being organized by High Falls Canna, a family-owned cannabis cultivation company, and will feature products from four farms and a processor. 

Rick Weissman, High Falls Canna founder and president, told the Times-Union that his company has distributed products to a handful of retail dispensaries but that they still have “quite a bit to sell” and thousands more plants in the ground this year. He said they are participating because they “want the ability to sell” the product they grew last year. 

New York regulators approved the showcases last month as the state has been slow to license retailers, leaving growers and processors with excess product. The logjam could get worse as a state Supreme Court justice on Monday temporarily blocked the state from issuing and processing of new retail cannabis licenses following a lawsuit by veterans who claim that officials have failed to follow social equity provisions in the state’s cannabis legalization law.