One of the most influential groups helping to shape policy for New York's legal cannabis industry is led by a farmer with little political experience, but has found early success representing small and medium-sized marijuana businesses. As a result, this organization is punching above its weight.
When the New York Cannabis Producers and Processors Association was founded about three years ago, it consisted of five members and a paid lobbyist. The association currently has about 250 members, the group said, and its directors point to some of its accomplishments in the state's marijuana legalization law as evidence of its growing influence in Albany. .
Currently, as state officials shape New York's future direction for the adult-use legal cannabis industry, NYCGPA's primary goal is to reduce the number of small and medium-sized cannabis businesses that currently exist in multiple states by overregulation and unfair competition for large companies. The goal is to ensure that the system does not stall. It supplies the state's medical marijuana program.
And it seems like lawmakers are listening.
“They've definitely taken notes and we've seen that across the board in the evolution of activities in Albany,” said association vice president Andrew Rozner. “We are a very active group.”
Origin of NYCGPA
The founding of NYCGPA began with a chance encounter at a conference on cannabis cultivation and processing held at Cornell University in the fall of 2018. Rosner, co-founder of New York-based cannabis company HR Botanicals, shifted his seat to sit near an interesting-looking stranger named Alan Gandelman. Currently he is the president of the group.
At the time, laws regulating cannabis and cannabis extracts were being passed in Albany. Rosner's concerns about the bill are largely echoed by Gandelman, owner and CEO of Cortland-based Main Street Farms, which grows and sells hemp, vegetables and other products. It was.
Alan Gandelman, owner and operator of Head + Heal, a cannabis and vegetable grower in Cortland. He is also the president of the New York Cannabis Producers and Processors Association.
“We found that there was really no representation for producers and processors through trade associations that could speak for the industry and talk directly to decision makers,” Rozner said.
They discussed forming such a group, and after bringing on board cannabis industry entrepreneurs Kaylan Kastetter, Ben Dobson, and Daniel Dolgin, the group hired Park Strategies lobbyist Joe Rossi, Founded the New York Cannabis Producers and Processors Association. .
Joe Rossi, managing director and cannabis practice group leader at Park Strategies, stands outside his office in downtown Syracuse in September 2021. bracino@syracuse.com
Mr. Rossi told New York City officials that he first met Mr. Gandelman through a mutual friend in late 2018. At the time, Rossi was trying to learn more about the hemp industry after Congress passed the 2018 Farm Bill that federally legalized hemp and extracts, and Gandelman was in the early stages of founding the organization that would become NYCGPA. I was at a stage.
“They had five board members and now they have five committees,” Rossi said. “Watching him grow from infancy to his current toddler age was probably the highlight of my professional career.”
Gandelman told NYCI that when the organization began lobbying state legislators, its primary goal was to ensure that CBD remained a legal additive in food, beverages, and other products. spoke. But its members still advocated for adult-use cannabis.
“There was not only an immediate need, but also a longer-term vision,” Gandelman said. “We knew that eventually we were all going to be in the adult-use THC industry, and we wanted to make sure we had farmers and small businesses in places where they could grow that crop.”
Cannabis is one of the crops grown at Main Street Farms in Cortland, New York Scott Trimble | Cortland, New York strimble@syracuse.com
Gandelman said the association's founding members began reaching out to other hemp companies in the state to build coalitions, while meeting with state legislators directly and through lobbyists.
In the summer of 2019, the New York State Legislature passed the Cannabis Act, which allows regulated businesses to sell CBD products and removes some restrictions on industrial hemp cultivation. At this point, the Society's membership had grown ten times its original size, and it celebrated its success.
But newcomers to the Legislature quickly learn a harsh lesson about New York politics.
politics as usual
Then-Governor Andrew Cuomo held off signing the hemp bill for about six months before authorizing it in December 2019.
“We were a little naive because we thought, 'Hey, we passed this bill and it's going to be smooth sailing,'” Gandelman said. “Well, that didn't happen.”
“It really slowed down and took a very long time to make progress.”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (center) attends a community health summit on cannabis and e-cigarettes with the governors of Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania on Thursday, October 17, 2019, in New York.
Albany's focus shifted from legalizing adult-use cannabis in 2020, when New York City became the nation's early epicenter of the coronavirus, board members said. But after considering how to apply the lessons learned from the cannabis bill, during that year's legislative session, we were ready to advance our priorities in the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, signed into law in March 2021.
Kastetter, a founding director and former CEO of defunct cannabis-infused wine company Sovereign Vines, said it's important to tell lawmakers why they're holding certain positions and provide them with data. That's what he said. He currently serves as managing director of Kastetter Cannabis Group, a consulting firm based in Binghamton.
Castetter said lawmakers “need both qualitative and quantitative data.” “A key part of that is letting stakeholders tell their stories and explain in very personal terms how regulations and laws impact them.
“But we also need some kind of data or evidence that this affects a certain number of people.”
The association primarily focused on growers, but has expanded its scope to include cannabis retailers.
The sun rises over a cannabis field at Main Street Farms on September 21, 2021 in Cortland, New York. N. Scott Trimble | strimble@syracuse.com
These legislative and growth strategies have proven effective, and the group has successfully pressured lawmakers to lower taxes on cannabis companies and include struggling farmers as a social equity entitlement. , Gandelman said.
With these wins, the roughly 250-member NYCGPA, which operates with an annual budget of about $100,000, will continue to work as state regulators set rules for the state's newly legal adult-use cannabis sector. Kastetter said he plans to give it his all. The group particularly wants to make sure the rules don't become too onerous for small and medium-sized businesses.
“The basis of our agenda in terms of advocacy is, 'Let's not overregulate this,'” Kastetter said. “When you overregulate, you encourage economies of scale, which means you just give the big players, and really, more room for them.”
NYCGPA also has amassed a diverse list of donors, including companies such as cannabis technology company Dutchie, Syracuse-based law firm Bond Schoenek & King, and Michigan-based CPA firm UHY. (Disclosure: Advance Media New York, which owns Syracuse.com and NYUp.com, is a donor to NYCGPA).
The NYCGPA isn't the only organization currently advocating for cannabis businesses in the Empire State. The New York City Cannabis Industry Association and the Hudson Valley Cannabis Industry Association were founded in 2019. The New York Medical Cannabis Industry Association represents companies operating within the state's medical cannabis program.
Curaleaf will open a new medical cannabis dispensary in Edgewater Park, New Jersey on June 25, 2021. The multi-state operator is one of 10 medical marijuana operators registered in New York State and plans to enter the state's adult recreational market in 2023. Michael Mancuso | Michael Mancuso | Michael Mancuso NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Kastetter said the group also wants to ensure that the state's 10 registered medical marijuana businesses are not preempted against small businesses.
He said he would rather wait longer for states to allow retail sales than start sooner by moving from medical programs to adult-use in a market initially dominated by large, multi-state companies. He added that this was the association's position.
Everyone's room?
Curaleaf, one of New York State's registered health care operators, plans to enter the state's adult-use market, but likely not until 2023, said Northeast Regional President Patrick Jonsson.
The company plans to triple the canopy size of its Ravena cultivation facility in Albany County to about 65,000 square feet over the next year or so to accommodate sales to both the medical and adult-use markets. said Johnson.
Medical cannabis plants grow during a media tour of the Curaleaf medical cannabis cultivation and processing facility on August 22, 2019 in Ravena, New York. Hans Pennink | Hans Pennink AP Photo
But he added that fears that companies like Curaleaf will dominate New York's adult-use market are misplaced. That's because they don't have the ability to increase the amount of cannabis needed to dominate the market. Johnson said he believes delaying legal sales will do more harm than good to small businesses.
“Some people who don't want to grow, a lot of people who are trying to start a retail store, aren't going to be able to grow,” Johnson said. “The only people who actually benefit are the independent cultivators.”
Additionally, if medical professionals transitioning to the adult-use market can immediately begin recreational sales, the state will collect more tax revenue to fund the industry's social equity programs, New York Medical Cannabis says. said Ngiste Abebe, Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Industry Association. Spokesperson for Columbia Care, a New York-based medical cannabis company.
Nigiste Abebe, president of the New York Medical Cannabis Industry Association and vice president of public policy for Columbia Care, during the New Jersey Cannabis Insider conference held at the Carteret Performing Arts Center. A panel of federal regulators discusses how D.C.'s decisions could impact regional markets. . Thursday, September 23, 2021. Carteret, NJ Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media
Abebe also said it's important to get New York's legal cannabis market up and running quickly, as a slow start could keep consumers and businesses stuck in the state's illegal cannabis market.
“The role that health care workers can play is to provide an early bridge to the legal market,” Abebe said.
Gandelman said decisions made in Albany in the coming months will determine who can begin manufacturing and selling to New York's adult-use market and when, and the NYCGPA will continue to push for policies and regulations that favor small businesses. said.
“The goal here is to build infrastructure and supply chains for small and medium-sized businesses,” he said.
