Cannabis is coming. That was one of the key takeaways from a recent forum in Sag Harbor on the future of marijuana cultivation and products in New York State.
Cannabis products range from pants to pot, with the state already allowing medical marijuana use, as well as the sale of CBD, a non-psychoactive compound. In a sign of hemp’s mainstreaming, the Long Island Farm Bureau, which has long represented cauliflower and potato growers alone, has climbed aboard.
Full legalization, or recreational use, has been looming for several years. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has proposed creating an Office of Cannabis Management, which would develop the regulations needed. For farmers with modest operations, how the office is put together is of the utmost importance. The often repeated fear is that the state would end up favoring large, well-financed corporate growers and distributors, cutting independent growers out of a valuable market. At one point, the governor was believed to favor indoor cultivation, which carries huge setup costs largely beyond independent means. Already, the New York Cannabis Growers and Processors Association says that small and midscale producers are being pushed out while the big, multi-state conglomerates lobby Albany to draft rules beneficial to their shareholders at the expense of family farms and local economies.
A model of how the state can effectively control the cannabis industry, and at the same time protect small business, can be found in craft beer and winemaking. Beer and wine have become a huge part of the state’s agricultural picture, including here on the East End, creating jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities. In Suffolk alone, craft breweries paid out $99 million in wages in 2018 and were responsible for $400 million in economic activity, according to the New York State Brewers Association. Statewide, the combined impact was more than $5.4 billion. A thriving, localized cannabis sector has the potential to match or even exceed these figures.
For the state, legalizing marijuana would bring the prospect of helping to close a projected $6 billion budget gap. Governor Cuomo has said tax revenue from weed and the sale of related products, such as smoking paraphernalia, could bring in $300 million annually in taxes.
After the legalization in other states, there has been an uptick in black-market distribution of marijuana products in New York, as well as increasing social acceptance of consumption. Pot is already here and is not going away anytime soon. It makes sense to regulate it, tax it, and at the same time, allow local producers to remain in the game.