New cannabis laws for 2023 kick in across the US

Pot taxes rise in California. Mushrooms decriminalized in Colorado.

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New York’s Adult-Use Cannabis License Application

For our first post on our much-publicized series on New York’s adult-use cannabis rules and regulations, we are going to cover the specifics on the license application process itself. The application requirements tracks the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA), in that it reiterates the two-tier system separating production and retail licenses and includes evaluation criteria specifically enumerated in the MRTA. Let’s dive right in!

The actual application

The application itself will likely look very similar to New York’s Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) application. Although the actual application has not been released, we anticipate that it will also be an online application that allows for uploading required documents in an organized and systematic fashion.

A significant deviation from the CAURD application is that adult-use applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. This will make it incredibly important for applicants to submit applications as soon as the application portal opens, given the location proximity limitations for retail dispensaries and on-site consumption locations, as well as the possibility of license caps (see more below!).

Applications will be heavy on disclosure and details. All True Parties in Interest must be disclosed, whether as an owner of the applicant or under the OCM’s definition of a “True Party of Interest” (TPI). Broadly speaking (but by no means comprehensively), any individual or entity qualifies as a TPI if they:

• Have an ownership interest in the applicant;
• Have a financial interest in the applicant, including but not limited to assuming the applicant’s debt;
• Have control over the applicant;
• Is the spouse of an owner; or
• Are contractually entitled to receive the greater of:
  • 10% of gross revenue;
  • 50% of net profit; or
  • $100,000 from the licensee in a calendar year.

License caps

Since the day the MRTA was passed, one of the big questions was whether New York would cap the number of licenses. The answer is, well, kind of. The rules and regulations do not provide an actual cap on the number of licenses issued across any license type. However, the rules and regulations do provide a proximity limitation for retails dispensaries. For towns with a population of 20,000 or more, no retail dispensary or on-site consumption licensee can be within 1,000 feet of another retail dispensary or on-site consumption licensee. The distance limitation is 2,000 feet for towns with a population of 20,000 or less.

The rules and regulations also allow for the possibility future caps, as limits may be imposed on the acceptance of applications based on:

• Total number of licenses;
• Location or authorized region of operations;
• Size of operation or output; and
• Operating conditions.

As we noted when first analyzing the MRTA, the requirement that retail dispensaries and on-site consumption applicant provide written notice to their municipality may also act as a de facto cap. It is imminently foreseeable that municipalities may begin submitting negative opinions regarding an applicant to the OCM once the municipality deems itself saturated.

License fees

The rules and regulations contemplate two separate fees: (i) an application fee of $1,000 for adult-use licenses; and (ii) license fees upon licensure based on the specific license type. We will cover the different license fees in our posts on the specific license types.

Real estate

New York has made clear from the moment the MRTA was passed that a license applicant’s real estate “situation” is a critical component to the licensing process. Upon provision license approval, applicants will have to disclose:

• Information about who receives payment of rent (if the premises is leased);
• Information about the premises, including:
  • The address;
  • Photos of the premises;
  • GPS coordinates for the premises;
  • Architectural drawings and information regarding the appearance of the exterior and interior of the premises; and
  • A floor plan
• A statement that the location does not violate the MRTA’s requirements;
• A statement regarding compliance with any required notice to the applicant’s municipality;
• The premises’ certificate of occupancy; and
• Proof of a plan to obtain insurance.

We will comprehensively cover application real estate requirements, but this is a good primer on the minimum applicants should start preparing as part of their New York cannabis license applications.

Evaluation criteria

As an important caveat before diving into the enumerated evaluation criteria, the rules and regulations note that the Cannabis Control Board (CCB) may prioritize licensure based on region, license type, and social and economic equity status. Beyond evaluating compliance with the rules and regulations and the MRTA’s evaluation criteria, the OCM identified the following additional criteria for evaluation:

• The applicant’s community impact plan, highlighting the applicant’s proposed strategy for community engagement;
• The applicant’s energy and environmental plan;
• Completion of workforce or training programs offered by the OCM;
• The applicant’s history in creating and maintaining an equitable workplace environment;
• The applicant’s history in creating and delivering culturally and linguistically competent services to diverse and underserved populations; and
• The applicant’s history in serving in community leadership roles.

Prohibitions

The rules and regulations contain a lot of prohibitions that applicants will have to navigate. The big one is this: no TPI can have an ownership interest or directly profit from both suppliers and a retailer. While the MRTA has always had a clear ban on vertical integration, the rules and regulations (and subsequent commentary) indicates that this limitation applies to ownership interests outside of New York. Ergo, an individual who has an ownership interest in vertically integrated cannabis business in Oregon have an ownership interest in a retail side license in New York. This limitation raises all sorts of questions, from the constitutionality of the limitation to the availability of financing for applicants (both questions we’ll address in a later post).

All in all, the New York cannabis license application process is comprehensive, with a focus on transparency and pushing forward the MRTA’s original goals. Stay tuned for the next post in our series on New York’s adult-use rules and regulations, and our upcoming webinar series!

The post New York’s Adult-Use Cannabis License Application appeared first on Harris Bricken Sliwoski LLP.

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Tony Shhnow Makes Getting Money Music

Weed plants sandwich a stop sign in the center of the Brooklyn Made stage. The DJ is playing a random assortment of half-decent rap music while Tony Shhnow is on stage pouring a drink into a red Solo cup. It’s Tony’s first tour with Cousin Stizz, and it’s his first time in Brooklyn this past April. The Cobb County rapper sports eyeglasses that have gold semi automatic guns on the sides, a green army jacket, a black Louie Vuitton belt, and a pair of clean white Air Force 1s. Tony opened with “EVEN ON A SUNDAY,” a track built entirely by plug-in style beats. When asked to define plug on a Zoom call, Tony replied, “It’s player ass trap music. It’s a player ass hustle Music. Getting money music. Sometimes your girl don’t want to hear you playing gangsta ass shit all the time. Sometimes she wants to be serenaded.” With plug, the instruments are synthetic and digital with compositions of tinkering bells, woozy flutes, and slow drums. “Plug is super chill, relaxed stoner-type stuff. But also super street Atlanta turnt. I feel like there’s a duality,” ATL producer Popstar Benny says over the phone.

Plug music results from Atlanta street tapes bootlegged on peer-to-peer sharing sites like Limewire and Frostwire and hosting sites like Datpiff and LiveMixtapes. “It was built on traditional Atlanta. It was mixing traditional Atlanta with the internet age,” Benny adds. Taking inspiration from the elegance of Zaytoven’s piano work, Plug adds a pop spin jam-packed with explosive digitized synths and video game sound bites. 

Plug Motivation is Tony’s new project, 24-tracks of money hustling, designer flexing, and drugs come entirely produced by the most prolific producers of the plug sub-genre: Big Emm, Cashcache, DJ YoungKash, Fashion Kor, GameBoomin, IceWater Black, JBand$, Mexikodro, Polo Boy Shawty, Popstar Benny, StoopidXool, and Youngstill. Plug Motivation is hosted by DJ Yung Rell, returning the days of vintage Gucci Mane in ‘08. Tony carries the spirit of old Atlanta with tracks like “Dats Me” and “Work Like This.” Flutes and snares come together with dreamy synths on the latter, with Tony showing pride in his swag and coming clean about his “bad bitch problem.” The entirety of Plug Motivation was recorded in Tony’s kitchen, no fancy studio equipment required. Tony takes inspiration from Gucci Mane’s Bird Flu 2, Lil Wayne’s No Ceilings and Carter III projects, as well as Zelda: Breath of the Wild while making the tape.

He seems excited to talk about the making of Plug Motivation over our Zoom call. For High Times, Tony discusses plug music, its purpose, the songs of his new project, and the difference between mixtapes and albums in 2022. Throughout the call, he smokes Metro Bloomin’ branded flower in a blunt, puffing between responses. 

High Times: Last week you just dropped Plug Motivation. When did you start recording that?

Tony Shhnow: I started recording what I felt as soon as I got off tour. Because Reflextions was damn near done when I got off tour. So Plug Motivation was definitely music I had fresh off tour trying to go into transition to the next project.

HT: Plug Motivation is a play on Jeezy’s Thug Motivation. What made you want to use that as the theme?

Tony Shhnow: Well, Mexikodro came up with the title. I got to attest that to him. I just applied my own style to it. I applied the theme to it. He picked the title and I just made it, I brought it to life.

HT: What I like about the tape a lot is that it brings back that old ATL mixtape aesthetic. What’s the difference now between a mixtape and an album? And I feel like Plug Motivation distinguishes that.

Tony Shhnow: For sure. I feel like a mixtape is raw music. It’s raw. It’s not really looking to be polished type shit. It can be, it’s music recorded in a kitchen or it can be in the trap. It could be, it’s something that it’s not meant to be pop or be on the billboards, necessarily. I’m not looking to be on the radio. I’m looking to be in the trap. I’m looking to be in the streets. It’s not a project aimed to please the average listener. Mixtapes aren’t aimed to please your fans. That’s what I feel like the major difference is.

HT: You also dropped the ShadowBanned mixtape before Plug Motivation. Rappers don’t do that anymore where they rap on each other’s beats for a whole project. It’s a lost art. 

Tony Shhnow: Yeah. That’s why… It’s hip hop to me though. That’s why I did the BBC project. I ain’t going to lie to you. I’ve been one to do the rapping on other people’s beats that were my peers. But I felt like I had to wait a second until it was the right moment. And right now I feel like it was definitely a good moment to do it.

HT: Do you think this whole streaming era ruined the identity of mixtapes nowadays?

Tony Shhnow: Yeah. It did a little bit. It did a little bit. But I still feel like there’s a space for it. I feel like just people have to, we got to adapt to it type shit. You don’t really see the premier artists doing that. People, the rap game normally imitates whatever the premier artist is doing at the time type shit. At the time when Lil Wayne did that, Tyga was doing that or Jacquees was doing that or Young Dro was doing that. It was multiple artists doing that at a time. But you don’t see the premier artists, which is Drake or Kendrick or J. Cole, you don’t see them doing that. They’re not going to imitate it.

HT: What is the big significance of having someone host your mixtapes? Because DJ Yung Rell hosted a few of your tapes.

Tony Shhnow: Yeah. I feel like that role is a lost art form in hip hop. So it’s important to me to keep pushing him or keep pushing that narrative type shit because I feel like hip hop needs that. That’s what I grew up on. That’s what a lot of these kids don’t get to see. You know what I mean? It’s almost like a narrator.

HT: I think it definitely is a lost art form because you don’t hear DJ Scream or Evil Empire as often anymore.

Tony Shhnow: Because a lot of them guys that’s older, they’re successful as fuck now, they not doing it no more, they just successful as fuck. So they don’t have time to do it. They changed ventures. They might have a label now or they might have a clothing line now. They just aren’t into it. Because like I said before to go back into the main, nobody’s calling them to come do something. You feel me? Tyler was the last big dude I saw doing it.

HT: On Plug Motivation, you kept the sound with strictly plug producers. So why’d you keep it so inclusive? What inspired that?

Tony Shhnow: I was already planning on making a plug project. Nah. When ‘Dro gave me that title, I feel like I had to keep it true to being plug. I had to keep it true to that. I feel like it’s a misconception about plug music. I just made the project to clarify what it is. I even used the old plug. I tried to show y’all exactly what plug was and what plug is now.

HT: How important was it to get everyone’s contributions for this project?

Tony Shhnow: I feel like it was very important on the producer end to make sure I tapped in what each producer that was a part of the Beats Plugs type shit and as far as the new culture. I feel like I can do the rapping. So I leave everything else to them, I try to make sure I work with the best producers, or the best DJ, the best director.

HT: One of my favorite songs is “Hell’s Hot” because I never heard you so angry before. Why were you so mad?

Tony Shhnow: I was dealing with this girl and really, it was a response to her. She just text me, “Hell is hot. I hope you burn, nigga.” I was like, “All right. Bitch, fuck you.

HT: That’s a mean text.

Tony Shhnow: On God. So I responded. I just use music as my therapy sometimes. So that’s just what that was. I honestly didn’t even know I was going to keep that song. People just started liking it.

HT: Based off the few drill songs you have on the ShadowBanned mixtape, how do you feel about drill music and how do you feel about the culture?

Tony Shhnow: It’s cool. I like it a little bit. I ain’t going to lie to you like I’m a super big fan of it because I’m not really into rap that talks too much about guns or violence type shit. I’m just super not heavy on it. The drill wave in Chicago was cool to me but I didn’t look at it that much. I just ain’t, I’m more of a fan of just player music. Talking about getting money or smoking weed. I like Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y or Lil Wayne. I like Gucci but I don’t like his songs when he talking about just shooting shit up all the time.

HT: That’s understandable. I can tell you’re on the fence with drill music.

Tony Shhnow: Yeah. I’m like, eh. Like I said I want to do it but just a little more player. I really fuck with, I fuck with, what’s that dude name? Damn, what’s that dude name? They dropped the Too Slizzy Too Sexy tape.

HT: Cash Cobain and Chow Lee.

Tony Shhnow: Yeah, bro. I’m fucking with them. Something that make the hoes move. Don’t get me wrong. The drill shit is cool. But I like the songs that the hoes get to moving with the girls. You know what I mean? I want girls to dance. I don’t want to shoot; I don’t have a stand-off [laughs].

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What’s next for New York’s legal weed rollout in 2023?

These are the stories to watch as New York’s brand new industry enters 2023 with high hopes

The post What’s next for New York’s legal weed rollout in 2023? appeared first on Leafly.

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New York lawmakers want to legalize DMT, psilocybin, and mescaline

The Empire State is the latest to propose legalizing psychedelics for safe access and medicinal potential. But what does that mean?

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New York’s Cannabis Retail Dispensary Regulations, Part 3: Hiring and Training Your Employees

As we previously broadly summarized on October 31, 2022, the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) released its “Guidance for Adult-Use Dispensaries” (the Regulations) on Friday, October 28, 2022. The Regulations provide guidance for Conditional Adult-Use Retails Dispensary (CAURD) licensees and applicants. Last week, at a hearing with the Cannabis Control Board, it was announced that 36 CAURD applicants were granted a license.

The information contained in the Regulations is a mix of substantive requirements, operational guidance and insight into the OCM’s plans for the issuance of licenses and operation of New York’s cannabis industry. As part of our series explaining and detailing the Regulations, this post is to provide licensees with guidance on the best practices for training employees working at your retail dispensary. Of course, this post cannot go into each and every detail of the Regulations; however, it should serve as a basis for your knowledge going forward. As usual, we encourage you to review the Regulations and consult with an attorney.

Employee Hiring

First and foremost, a Licensee cannot hire anyone under the age of eighteen (18) and only workers who are at least twenty-one (21) years of age can have direct interactions with customers inside the dispensary, transport cannabis products in any way, or be involved in any delivery operations. Presumably, the only jobs that can be done under 18 are for stocking, cleaning and security.

Licensees must designate an Employee in Charge who is twenty-one (21) years of age or older, responsible for managing the core day-to-day function of the dispensary. The Employee in Charge is probably the most important hire a Licensee will make. The Employee in Charge is the person responsible for submitting required reports and notifications to the Office of Cannabis Management (the “OCM”). The Employee in Charge must also maintain the dispensary’s staffing plan and update the plan within five (5) business days of any change in an individual’s employment status. When hiring, take note that an individual cannot be the Employee in Charge of more than one dispensary at a time, so there may be increased competition.

The Employee in Charge is also responsible for managing the core day-to-day function of the dispensary. This is the person responsible for submitting required reports and notifications to the Office. The Employee in Charge must maintain the dispensary’s staffing plan containing the name, contact information, and age of all workers involved in activities related to the sale of cannabis products. The Employee in Charge must maintain signed and dated records that all workers have been trained within thirty days of their hiring.

Employee Training

Licensees must ensure that all workers are trained in compliance with the training manual, including the minimum curriculum below or any worker certification program authorized by the Board. Trainings must occur during a worker’s normal work hours and workers must be compensated their normal rate of pay while completing required trainings.

Training does not need to be conducted by the licensee; licensees are permitted to utilize a third-party trainer to conduct some or all of the required training. Training must include, at a minimum:

1. the history of cannabis use, prohibition, and legalization;
2. relevant state and federal laws or regulations;
3. how to ensure the safe use of cannabis;
4. how to prevent sales to individuals under 21;
5. how to operate and maintain the security and surveillances of licensed premises;
6. emergency procedures for the dispensary; and
7. how to comply with and operate the inventory tracking systems.

Employee Training Manual

Licensees must maintain and circulate to its employees, a written training manual. The training manual must include, at a minimum:

1. worker guidelines and security, operating, and safety procedures;
2. information about all types of cannabis products the dispensary sells or plans to sell;
3. customer privacy and confidentiality requirements; and
4. alcohol-free, drug-free, and smoke-free workplace policies.

In addition to the circulation of the training manual, all workers must be trained in compliance with the training manual. The Employee in Charge must maintain signed and dated records that all workers have been trained within thirty (30) days of their hiring.

It may behoove licensees who are unsure of the training requirements, or how to draft a training manual, to retain a third-party company experienced in training employees pursuant to the OCM Guidelines, or a company that regularly drafts and circulates training manuals pursuant to the OCM Guidelines.

For more information on this topic, check out our recent webinar. And below are links to our previous posts in this series:

• New York’s Cannabis Retail Dispensary Guidelines are Here!
• New York’s Cannabis Retail Dispensary Guidelines, Part 1: Dispensary Operations
• New York’s Cannabis Retail Dispensary Guidelines, Part 2: Security and Surveillance

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Humboldt County Shaken by Second Earthquake in Two Weeks

An earthquake rocked Humboldt County on Sunday, shaking California’s famous Emerald Triangle cannabis cultivation region for the second time in two weeks. The earthquake on New Year’s Day, which measured 5.4 on the Richter scale, followed a stronger quake that shook the area on December 20, leading to the death of two people. Sunday’s quake was one of more than 300 aftershocks that have rocked the region since.

“It’s typical to have an aftershock that is about one magnitude unit less than the main shock,” Lori Dengler, a former geology professor and an expert on earthquakes and tsunamis, told local media after Sunday’s temblor. “So this is very typical of most aftershock sequences.”

“Today’s earthquake (was) clearly on a different but related fault,” Dengler added.

Sunday’s quake occurred at 10:35 a.m. local time and was centered about nine miles east of the Rio Dell area of Humboldt County, according to information from the U.S. Geological Survey. There were no reports of casualties or major damage, although California Route 211 through the area was temporarily closed to give inspectors time to check a bridge over the Eel River for potential damage associated with the quake, the California Department of Transportation reported. 

Earthquake Results In Power Outage

The temblor caused a power outage in the Rio Dell area, which bore the brunt of the earthquake that shook the area 12 days earlier. Pacific Gas and Electric reported that the outage affected between 500 and 5,000 utility customers, according to media reports.

Gage Dupper was displaced by the December earthquake, which knocked his home off its foundation. He told reporters he has been living as a “nomad” since then.

“Today was another pretty big one,” said Dupper. “Still feels like we are shaking to me. We just can’t catch a break it seems.”

Gage noted that he was working in Fortuna, adjacent to Rio Dell, when Sunday’s quake shook the area again.

“But even just here it felt like the ceiling was going to come down,” Dupper said. “We nearly lost our power here as well. I was in the middle of talking to a resident of the assisted living community I work for and you could just see the panic in their eyes when it started. She was just trying to pay her rent. It certainly tossed us around a bit.”

Sunday’s Quake Follows 6.4 Shaker Last Month

The earthquake that shook the Humboldt County area on December 20 measured 6.4 on the Richter scale and caused significant damage in the region. That quake injured 17 people and was blamed for the deaths of two residents, a 73-year-old and an 83-year-old, who died as “a result of medical emergencies occurring during and/or just following the earthquake,” according to a statement from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office’s Department of Emergency Services.

The December quake also resulted in a power outage in the Rio Dell area, with more than 72,000 customers affected, and a water main break caused the area to lose water service, as well. Damage from the quake was reported in Ferndale, Rio Dell, and Fortuna, Emergency Services Director Mark Ghilarducci said in a press conference in Sacramento. Damage was most extensive in Rio Dell, where at least 15 homes in the community of 3,000 were deemed uninhabitable. Another 18 homes sustained moderate damage, officials reported after a partial assessment of the area. 

Rio Dell’s water system was shut down while leaks in the vital infrastructure were repaired. The local firehouse was distributing drinking water, and portable toilets were set up outside City Hall for area residents to use. Local resident Cassondra Stoner said that she was shaken awake by the early morning quake that rocked the area last month.

“It felt like my roof was coming down,” Stoner said. “The only thing I could think about was, ‘Get the freaking kids.’”

The post Humboldt County Shaken by Second Earthquake in Two Weeks appeared first on High Times.

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