Opinion: Ensuring New York’s Cannabis Industry Lives Up to its Promises

“New York has the chance to build the most inclusive cannabis industry in the country—an industry where small businesses thrive alongside larger players, where local communities benefit directly, and where justice is not only acknowledged but enacted.”

New York’s cannabis market may have surpassed $2 billion in total sales, but the small businesses that were supposed to be its backbone aren’t all sharing in that prosperity. The state must act swiftly, starting with appointing permanent leadership at the industry’s regulatory agency. 

The vision of legalization was clear: repair the harms of prohibition, open the doors of opportunity to entrepreneurs shut out of traditional industries, and build a market rooted in equity and inclusion. Instead, the system we have today is leaving too many behind. Licensing delays, confusing regulations, and the absence of promised support are squeezing out small operators while those with the deepest pockets position themselves to dominate.

What we’re seeing is an industry built on the language of equity but sustained by barriers that block the very entrepreneurs it was designed to help. Take the rollout of BioTrack, the state’s first seed-to-sale tracking system that’s supposed to root out product illegally trafficked into the state and introduced into the legal market. The implementation was riddled with delays that left operators in limbo—unable to properly log inventory or complete required compliance steps. 

Just as businesses were beginning to adapt, the state abruptly announced a shift to a new platform, Metrc, forcing operators to retool their systems and retrain staff. For small businesses already running on razor-thin margins, the confusion from the state along with the disruption has meant lost time, lost money, and yet another roadblock to competing in a market where every day counts. 

Then there was also the state’s confusing approach when it declared more than 100 dispensaries to be closer to schools than the law allows, creating chaos for retailers who had already invested heavily in their locations. These missteps have left operators uncertain whether the rules of the game can be trusted, or whether they’ll change again tomorrow.

To close that gap, New York must act with urgency. That begins with permanent leadership at the Office of Cannabis Management. Without stable, experienced leadership, the agency responsible for shaping this market cannot provide the clarity and consistency small businesses need to plan, invest, and grow. 

The legislature also has to lead. It was lawmakers who put equity at the center of legalization, and it must be lawmakers who now step in to make sure that promise is honored with real reforms.

And the state must finally deliver the support it promised. Social equity designations and reinvestment funds only mean something if they translate into real, tangible assistance—technical help, fair financing, reduced fees, and a licensing process that doesn’t punish smaller operators. Without these, “equity” risks becoming a slogan, not a reality.

The stakes are enormous. New York has the chance to build the most inclusive cannabis industry in the country—an industry where small businesses thrive alongside larger players, where local communities benefit directly, and where justice is not only acknowledged but enacted. 

But if the state doesn’t act now, we risk watching legalization turn into another broken promise, another market dominated by a powerful few while the entrepreneurs who believed in this vision are left out. The cannabis industry can be a driver of jobs, investment, and wealth across New York. It can also be proof that legalization was about more than revenue—it was about fairness, justice, and opportunity. 

But that future is only possible if the state provides the leadership, legislative action, and support that small businesses need to succeed. The opportunity is still here. The question is whether New York has the will to seize it.

Damien Cornwell is president of the Cannabis Association of New York.