It keeps growing like weeds.
The legal cannabis industry will become even more popular with New Yorkers in 2025. State regulators predict the number of newly licensed cannabis stores will more than double, jumping from 275 to more than 625.
In 2024, consumers purchased over $840 million worth of legal Ganga. Considering sales from 2023, the legal market has surpassed the milestone of $1 billion in total sales.
The Bureau of Cannabis Control says sales could exceed $1.5 billion in 2025, or about twice as much as last year, as law enforcement expands efforts to padlock illegal stores. said.
OCM Policy Director John Kagia said, “With the agency licensing approximately 30 pharmacies per month in the last quarter of 2024, we expect more than 350 pharmacies to open in 2025.” Ta.
Cannabis industry representatives love the topic.
“If we doubled the number of stores opening in 2025, it would be a huge number. That would help suffocate the illegal operators,” said the author, who represents more than a dozen clients in the cannabis industry. said Joe Rossi, lobbyist for Park Strategies.
“There is reason to be optimistic. The cannabis industry is starting to turn a corner,” added Rossi, who has been an outspoken critic of the Empire State's cannabis expansion.
Industry regulators are eager to help New Yorkers roll out.
“OCM continues to refine its out-of-year forecasts based on market analysis and feedback, but 2025 sales could certainly exceed $1.5 billion,” said OCM Executive Director Felicia Reed. he told the Post.
“It is also important that market entrepreneurs deeply reflect consumer tastes and interests, so their adaptability will also be factored into the pace of market growth,” she added.
Flower or pre-roll cannabis accounted for 45% of sales last year, followed by e-cigarettes at 28% and edibles, liquids and tablets for another 27%, according to OCM data.
The agency also plans to license hundreds of new cannabis processors and other companies in the supply chain this year.
Cannabis industry officials say significant progress has been made in shrinking the illegal market in 2024, but black market dealers remain a thorny challenge for legal and illegal sellers.
State officials, the New York City Sheriff and the NYPD padlocked hundreds of illegal stores after a new state law was approved last spring that made it easier to do so.
In an enforcement report just released to Governor Kathy Hochul and the Legislature, OCM said, “Our actions continue to target unlicensed cannabis retailers, undermining New York State's ability to build a truly fair market.” We are focused on it.”
“The proliferation of unlicensed cannabis stores poses a public health threat because the unregulated products on store shelves are not tested according to OCM standards and are often packaged in ways that are attractive to young people. It continues.”
OCM said it will “significantly expand” enforcement efforts to eliminate unregulated markets, including targeting networks that supply cannabis to illegal operators in the Empire State.
The cannabis market follows a rocky two-year development marred by litigation, a large illegal market, and a huge backlog in awarding retail licenses issued by the often-criticized understaffing and overwhelmed OCM. It's been heating up in recent months.
Hochul last year ordered a management overhaul after a scathing report he commissioned in May was frank in criticizing the way the regulator was run and the hiring of 64 new staff.
In a sign that the smoke is clearing, cannabis industry experts are now expressing concern that too many licensed cannabis stores are opening and cannibalizing each other's business.
Cannabis officials in one state have proposed capping the number of cannabis dispensaries to 1,600.
“We want to be smart about the rollout,” said Joseph Bellack, chairman of the state Cannabis Advisory Commission. “It makes sense to take it slow and see what the data shows.”
The last thing the state wants is for weed control companies to open and close due to oversupply, as has happened in other states, including California, Bellack said.
“It's a balancing act. The biggest challenge is to open as many stores as possible in a sustainable way,” he said.
OCM and the policy-making Cannabis Control Commission have not yet considered whether to impose caps on cannabis dispensary licenses, but they may address the issue soon.
“OCM has a mandate to help build New York’s cannabis industry, increase consumer access to legal cannabis, promote public safety, and bring it to market without oversaturating or destabilizing the supply chain.” “We recognize the importance of evaluating approaches to maintaining access to the Internet,” said Executive Director Reed. .
Despite the optimism, grassroots problems remain.
For example, OCM is still working through a backlog of applications.
The agency last month allowed some would-be cannabis retailers to apply for licenses without first securing a retail store location or notifying local governments, as required by the state's 2021 Cannabis Act. A separate lawsuit has also been filed accusing regulators of allowing .
The judge granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting OCM from approving these applications pending a final judgment.
