ALBANY — Every major New York cannabis trade organization stood shoulder to shoulder in Albany this week behind a single message: the legal market the state spent five years building is still being undercut by illicit products, and regulators, lawmakers and licensees need to close that gap together.
The news conference, hosted alongside acting Office of Cannabis Management Executive Director John Kagia, celebrated the launch of New York’s seed-to-sale tracking system and a pending budget proposal that would put $10 million behind track-and-trace enforcement. It also served as a rare show of unity among cultivators, processors, retailers, medical operators and equity businesses who often disagree on the details of how the state’s nascent market should be run.
New York has issued more than 2,000 cannabis licenses and seen roughly 660 stores open since recreational sales began. Legal sales have surpassed $3 billion, Kagia said. But operators say a parallel illicit market continues to siphon customers, and out-of-state product is being laundered into licensed shelves through a practice the industry calls inversion…