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Still no local stores legally selling cannabis

Oct 30, 2023 12:44 pm

Patricia R. Doxsey reports in the Daily Freeman that cannabis fans, marijuana-growing farmers, and towns expecting tax revenue all want the same thing to happen in New York. Farmer Tessa Williams said, “I would plead with Gov. Hochul to open stores....We need stores to open.” Two and a half years after cannabis was legalized in the state, very few stores are legally selling it, and none locally. About 300 farmers across New York have grown much cannabis that is slowly going bad. As of Oct. 26, there are only 21 retail cannabis dispensaries open across the state, most in New York City. The closest locally is in Albany. Williams says her 220-acre Empire Farm in Columbia County invested $3 million to start growing cannabis, and has been stuck with the crop. Williams says, “We’re farmers, we pivot,” so they began selling the crop at events, after Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration loosened rules recently to help famers with their glut of cannabis. Hochul's administration also recently further opened the application process. Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.