With stores in Oswego, Pulaski, Fulton and Central Square and more than 12 locations in Onondaga County, the cannabis business is booming in NYS. Total sales since marijuana was legalized are approaching $1 billion
By Aaron Gifford
The New York state cannabis industry is growing like a weed.
With the recent opening of Leafy Wonders adult-use cannabis retail dispensary in Fulton, there are now 245 recreational pot stores across the state — and hundreds more are planned, according to New York’s Office of Cannabis Management.
Besides the store in Fulton, Oswego County features several cannabis stores: FlynnStoned Cannabis Company in Oswego, Salmon River Cannabis Company in Pulaski and Canna Guy in the Central Square area.
OCM announced earlier this fall that total cannabis sales since marijuana was legalized in the state are approaching $700 million. The $1 billion mark could be reached in 2025 if growth in this industry remains on the current trajectory.
“This is an exciting moment for New York’s cannabis industry as we continue to see tremendous growth in both entrepreneurship and innovation,” Tremaine Wright, chairperson of The New York State Cannabis Control Board, said in a news release. “With over 1,000 licenses issued this year alone, we’re creating an environment that not only encourages business development but also allows for a diverse array of products and services to emerge, reflecting the rich tapestry of our communities.”
The minutes from the June 11, 2024, New York Cannabis Control Board meeting show that total retail cannabis sales on the year exceeded $357.3 million, with revenues from the month of May 2024 coming in at $46.2 million. The highest week of sales recorded so far, also this past May, saw $12.5 million worth of cannabis sold in retail stores across New York.
Second quarter 2024 sales exceeded $160 million, up from $100 million the previous quarter.
State sales and excise tax revenues on the legal marijuana transactions amounted to $23 million for that quarter, $6 million of which went back to communities in Upstate New York.
OCM lists Leafy Wonders in Fulton and Salmon River Cannabis Company in Pulaski as the first retail dispensaries to set up shop in Oswego County. It also tallies 12 in Onondaga County, with licenses for an additional 12 shops there pending.
There are two pending retail licenses for additional future shops in Oswego County — one near Central Square and another in Fulton.
There are no dispensaries in Cayuga County yet, though two licenses in the city of Auburn are active and two are pending. In Madison County, there’s an active license in Morrisville, but the shop hasn’t opened yet, the OCM website notes.
There are also two retail dispensaries in Oneida County, not counting Verona Collective, which is owned by the Oneida Indian Nation and is not subject to state regulations or OCM authority. Verona Collective considered the largest retail pot operation in the region.
New York City, the largest metropolitan area in the nation, expects major growth in cannabis sales, according to its Independent Budget Office. IBO estimates that 24 dispensaries will open annually across the Big Apple, reaching a total of 243 by 2027.
Canndelta, a cannabis business consulting firm, estimates that sales in New York City alone will reach $1 billion within three years if growth there continues at the current rate. Statewide, the firm estimates, New York’s cannabis market has grown by about 1,000% since 2023.
Still, not every city, town and village in the Empire State is interested in jumping on this gravy train. More than 800 municipalities have passed laws prohibiting retail cannabis stores and/or on-site consumption businesses.
Oswego County’s opt-out list includes Mexico, Cleveland, the village of Central Square and the town of Oswego.
Fulton, Hannibal (town and village), Hastings, Minetto, Parish (town and village), Phoenix, Pulaski and the city of Oswego allow retail cannabis dispensaries and consumption sites by virtue of not passing laws banning them, according to the state Office of Cannabis Management.
New York state authorities have also cracked down hard on unlicensed pot shops and illegal sales by street dealers, closing 354 unauthorized dispensaries and seizing more than 27,000 pounds of cannabis products with a street value of nearly $122 million, according to OCM.
“We will continue to promote environmental sustainability and remain committed to shutting down illicit operators so that our licensees have a real shot at thriving in a competitive regulated market,” Wright said in a 2024 report on industry regulation and taxation. “It’s no secret that we have had our share of growing pains. We acknowledge the opportunities to build upon what we’ve started and look forward to continuous improvement and adaptation to meet the rapidly evolving needs of our cannabis community and industry.”
About half the nation, 24 states, have legalized recreational and medical marijuana and 13 states allow medical use only. Voters in Florida last month narrowly defeated a proposal to legalize recreational use and referendums in other states are expected in the years to come. At the federal level, cannabis remains illegal.
The Rockefeller Institute of Government, in its recent analysis of New York’s cannabis industry, said dispensaries across the Empire State should expect similar growing pains that their counterparts out west experienced when their pot shops opened earlier in the decade.
“One of the initial complexities of rolling out a legal marijuana market is uncertainty related to supply and demand,” the report explained. “In general, states do not have good data about the number of existing marijuana users and their product preferences, nor do they know the number of new customers that may participate in the market now that marijuana is legal. This, in turn, makes it difficult to predict the number of dispensaries and the amount of crops to be grown and harvested that the customer base would support. These calculations are further complicated by the federal prohibition on marijuana, which prevents the importing or exporting of products; legal adult-use marijuana must be grown and sold only within the confines of the state.”
Another area to watch, the Rockefeller Institute reported, is regional dynamics. When Massachusetts became the first state to allow recreational marijuana, pot shops there were frequented by visitors in neighboring New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island. But after those states followed suit and legalized cannabis retail dispensaries, some stores in the Bay State closed.
“As cross-state purchases may decline along the coast, New York still shares a long border with a state that has yet to legalize retail sales,” the report said. “Will dispensaries closest to Pennsylvania outperform businesses that serve a more local New York population? And will we see cars with Pennsylvania and Ohio license plates in Fredonia, Jamestown, Elmira and Binghamton dispensary parking lots?”
