While cannabis became legal in New York this spring, how the industry takes shape will be determined by nominations and decisions that will be made in the coming weeks. The bill that Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law in March creates the Office of Cannabis Management, and “establishes an Executive Director appointed by the Governor subject to Senate confirmation.” Nominations from the governor are top of mind for New York lawmakers and the cannabis industry as this new office will oversee one of the largest legal cannabis markets in the world. Senator Liz Krueger and Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes negotiated with Cuomo for years to ensure that the legalization bill that made it over the finish line, their Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, centered on social and racial justice. Now they want to make sure that whoever is selected to lead the Office of Cannabis Management understands “the commitment of this legislation,” as Krueger put it last month, during a New York-based virtual event called CannaGather. During the event, Krueger expressed excitement to Peoples-Stokes because she had received a call from the governor’s office that day to “assure me that they were going to start moving this and that they wanted to be hand-in-hand with you and I and make us happy,” adding that she thought names would drop in the coming days.
Alyson Martin, Cannabis Wire, 07/05/2021 20:00:00