Earlier this week, New York cannabis administrators approved regulations for the state’s cannabinoid hemp program, distinctly clarifying that flowers from the cannabis crop can be sold. However, delta-8 THC products are currently outlawed from being sold. Hemp-infused foods and beverages will also be permitted.
The NY State Department of Health had initially proposed laws for hemp-derived cannabinoids. The NY DOH went through a common comment session before being formally recorded by the Office of Cannabis Management, the OCM. Given the failure of the program under the broader cannabis legalization law enacted earlier this year.
The Cannabis Control Board (CCB) administration tackled several problems drafting rules for marketing, laboratory experimentation, labeling, and packaging. Yet some of the most considerable statutes from a market panorama relate to hemp flower and delta-8 THC, a psychoactive cannabinoid that’s increased in popularity and can be synthesized via hemp-derived CBD.
The board also proclaimed that a 60-day civil comment period is open for people to contemplate a blueprint proposal to allow medicinal cannabis patients to cultivate their plants for healing practices. That policy was the focal point of their previous meeting back in October.
Concerning hemp, those products sell—but they can’t be sold “for smoking or be in the form of a pre-roll, cigar or joint.”
Delta-8 THC laws have been another hot topic in the cannabis market. We have written about Delta-8 THC products various times since last year. Additionally, the board made clear that its laws “prohibit the sale of Delta-8 THC products,” appending that “Delta-8 THC products contain intoxicating qualities which are better left regulated in the future [recreational cannabis] program.”
The issuance of these statutes means that OCM will start assigning final licenses for the hemp-derived cannabinoid exchange. While the laws take effect instantly, businesses will have a six-month grace period to comply with new trial, packaging, and labeling provisions.
Regulators also addressed areas that forthcoming editions of rules for the cannabinoid hemp program will address, including expanding allowable THC concentrations, modifications to per serving milligram caps for dietary complements, eliminating provisions that products be shelf-stable, revising labeling conditions, and more. They aim to build a process that will allow small hemp farmers to prepare and produce their products.
Also, at the meeting held earlier this week, regulators proclaimed the launch of a new online application that municipal government can use to upload data about judgments to ban recreational cannabis dispensaries and social use spaces, a decision they must put into effect by December 31.
Regulators also conversed candidly about the forthcoming launch of a new public education program making people aware of what the state’s legalization law does and doesn’t support.
In October, at their first meeting, CCB declared that medicinal cannabis dispensaries will now be permitted to sell cannabis flower products to approved patients. The $50 registration charge for patients and caretakers was also permanently waived. Members of the board, who the governor and legislative leaders recently appointed, also discussed moral concerns for regulators, allowed staff hires, and spoke about the subsequent steps for the committee.
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), who succeeded Cuomo, has frequently emphasized her interest in efficiently executing the legalization law signed earlier this Spring.
In a recent appearance, she promoted that she had quickly made administrative appointments suspended under her predecessor. CCB is accountable for supervising the self-governing (ironic, right?) OCM within the New York State Liquor Authority governs the state’s medicinal cannabis and hemp enterprises.
As it stands, adults 21 and older can possess up to three ounces of cannabis or 24 grams of cannabis concentrates in the Empire State. Adults 21 and older can also smoke cannabis in public anywhere tobacco can be smoked, a gamechanger. However, there aren’t any cannabis shops open for business as of this post.