New York—capital of the world, financial capital, culture capital, media capital—is poised to finally realize its cannabis capital in the year 2024.
The home of “The Big Apple” is known for the magnitude and scale of so many things, yet it finds itself among the minority of legalized adult-use states that prohibit the home cultivation of marijuana. Though recreational cannabis use has been legal in the Empire State since 2021, only those registered in the state’s medical cannabis access program are legally permitted to grow marijuana for personal use.
Following years of setbacks that allowed the illicit market to boom, New York’s adult-use cannabis market is gaining speed in 2024. In February NY regulators signed off on more than 100 new non-conditional cannabis business licenses to support the legal market and approved draft rules to allow for home cultivation of recreational marijuana.
The Empire State Could Get Higher:
NY’s 2024 Cannabis Laws & Proposed Home Grow Legalization
It is currently legal for adults 21 and older to possess up to three ounces of cannabis and up to 24 grams of concentrated cannabis for personal use in New York. For medical patients or designated caregivers registered with the state's medical marijuana program, medical use residents can purchase up to a 60-day supply of medical cannabis from medical cannabis dispensaries.
Though it is likely that you will smell the distinct aroma of marijuana during on the sidewalks of New York City, the Smoke Free Air Act (SFAA) prohibits smoking and vaping cannabis in most public spaces including areas near hospital entrances, in parks, beaches, pedestrian plazas, and even outdoor restaurant dining areas and parked cars. Smoking or vaping cannabis in prohibited areas may result in a civil summons and fine.
It is illegal to sell any amount of marijuana without a license, drive while under the influence or impaired by the effects of cannabis, or for people under 21 years old to possess, sell or use any amount of cannabis.
Your “New York State of Mind '' could soon get higher with approved home cultivation regulations that would allow adults to grow up to six plants for personal use. As currently drafted, the new OCM-approved state regulations would allow adult New Yorkers 21 and older to grow weed at home in NY: up to six plants for personal use on private property (with no more than three mature at one time) and harvest up to five pounds of cannabis flower. In a residence with multiple adults, those numbers increase to a maximum of 12 plants in cultivation, with a total of six mature plants. Cultivators will be permitted to grow from seed or purchase immature plants from licensed providers and the legal option of converting their flower to concentrate.
Share Your NY State of Mind:
Public Comment Period, now—May 20, 2024
Share your “I love NY” sentiments for the newly proposed OCM regulations; the state is listening to the public on this issue now through May 20, 2024. With members of the Cannabis Control Board (CCB) having signed off on the rules for cannabis cultivation in NY, the 60-day public comment period on the proposed regulations is currently underway.
Before the rules are finalized, the rulemaking process allows NY residents to express themselves so if you want to make your NY voice heard on “Part 115 - Amendments to Personal Home Cultivation of Medical Cannabis & Adult-Use Regulations Express Terms,“ submit your comments by email to [email protected] or mail to: New York State Office of Cannabis Management, P.O. Box 2071, Albany, NY 12220
Cannabis Use & Possession in New York State
Yes, it is now legal for adults 21 and older to possess up to three ounces of cannabis and up to 24 grams of concentrated cannabis for personal use in New York. For medical patients or designated caregivers registered with the state's medical marijuana program, medical use residents can purchase up to a 60-day supply of medical cannabis from medical cannabis dispensaries. When dispensing to patients, Registered Organizations (ROs) must follow recommended limitations prescribed by the certifying healthcare provider.
Though it is likely that you will smell the distinct aroma of marijuana during on the sidewalks of New York City, the Smoke Free Air Act (SFAA) prohibits smoking and vaping cannabis in most public spaces including areas near hospital entrances, in parks, beaches, pedestrian plazas, and even outdoor restaurant dining areas and parked cars. Smoking or vaping cannabis in prohibited areas may result in a civil summons and fine.
It is illegal to sell any amount of marijuana without a license, drive while under the influence or impaired by the effects of cannabis, or for people under 21 years old to possess, sell or use any amount of cannabis.
The Evolution of Cannabis Legalization in the Empire State: Progressive Aims & New Targets
It was not until June 2014 that the great state of NY, a place lauded for its progressive politics, became the 23rd state in the nation to legalize medical marijuana. Although medical cannabis has been legally available to New Yorkers through the state’s medical marijuana program, over the past decade amid tight regulation and patient access and affordability barriers, the program has suffered.
Following years of failed attempts to allow New Yorkers to purchase, grow, and use cannabis-based products, lawmakers voted to make New York the 15th state to legalize recreational marijuana on March 31, 2021, when the Marihuana Regulation & Taxation Act (MRTA) was signed into law. MRTA legalized adult-use cannabis or recreational marijuana in New York State and created the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) governed by a Cannabis Control Board to regulate adult-use, medical, and hemp cannabis and govern the terms surrounding cannabis business licensing.
Marijuana legalization may have reached Ellis Island in New York 2021, but the number of missteps and setbacks in the rollout of its recreational cannabis market rivals the 102 floors of the Empire State Building!
Though NY state lawmakers legalized adult-use cannabis in March of 2021, limited retail sales did not begin until December 2022 when the first legal purchase of recreational cannabis was made in a dispensary operated by Housing Works in Greenwich Village. Unlike neighboring New Jersey and Massachusetts who allowed medical dispensaries to jump start recreational cannabis sales, New York reserved its first retail licenses for those with criminal convictions and nonprofits with a history of aiding the incarcerated. By August 2023, a state judge issued an injunction blocking New York from issuing any new dispensary licenses, ruling in favor of a group of disabled veterans who claimed state regulations under the state’s Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensaries (CAURD) program were unconstitutional.
In October 2023, regulators opened the industry to the public, broadening the opportunity for business hopefuls previously excluded by the state’s prioritization of justice-involved applications. Only now in 2024 has the state started allowing medical dispensaries to sell to the public. Most recently in February 2024, along with draft rules to allow home cultivation of recreational cannabis, regulators have approved more than 100 new cannabis business licenses for retailers, micro businesses, cultivators, processors, and distributors—the first non-conditional licenses.
During three years of false promises, lawsuits, and well-intentioned initiatives that stalled legal dispensary openings in the state, illicit shops have proliferated in NY. After facing criticism for not licensing enough retailers to meet consumer demand, state regulators and Governor Kathy Hochul are taking action to reverse course and expand the state’s marijuana market.
In addition to the OCM-approved regulations now in public comment, the governor has proposed legislation expanding the power of local authorities to punish unlicensed shops and complicit landlords as well as a measure to eliminate a THC potency tax that would make the regulated NY cannabis market more competitive.
