Governor Kathy Hochul has signed legislation that will allow state-licensed hemp growers to apply for provisional licenses to begin cultivating recreational marijuana.
The legislation created a Conditional Adult-use Cannabis Cultivator license. Existing hemp growers that receive one would be able to cultivate up to an acre of marijuana plants outdoors or 25,000 square feet in a greenhouse, with no more than 20 lights.
The two-year licenses will also allow the growers to distribute cannabis until June 1, 2023.
License holders will be required to participate in a social equity program, under which they’d train minorities and women who want to enter the cannabis industry. Farmers also must use safe, sustainable and environmentally friendly cultivation practices.
The Office of Cannabis Management will be developing a license application process and opening the program as soon as possible. To qualify for an Adult-use Cannabis Conditional Cultivator License an applicant must have been an authorized industrial hemp research partner for the Department of Agriculture and Markets, cultivating hemp for its non-intoxicating cannabinoid content for at least two of the past four years and in good standing as of December 31, 2021, when the research program ended.
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