Ahead of the marijuana holiday 4/20, New York regulators are rolling out a “higher education” campaign that’s meant to provide adults with information about how to “make informed, responsible decisions about cannabis.”
The Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) announced the new effort on Thursday, with plans to disseminate educational materials about the state’s marijuana law via an online library they’ll be promoting across New York.
There will be print and digital advertisements featuring a QR code that takes people to the educational library, and regulators said they will be targeting high-traffic areas, transit hubs and licensed marijuana retailers.
“As New York’s cannabis market continues to grow, it’s our responsibility to make sure people have easy access to the information they need to make safer and informed decisions,” Felicia Reid, acting executive director of OCM, said in a press release.
“The ‘Higher Education’ campaign is about empowering individuals with the facts—whether they’re brand new to cannabis or just unfamiliar with the laws,” she said. “This is what public health looks like in a modern, legal cannabis landscape.”
OCM said the campaign will highlight safe cannabis consumption practices such as storage and information about different types of marijuana products, cannabis labeling, where to find licensed retailers and public consumption rules.
Lyla Hunt, deputy director of public health and education at OCM, said the campaign “isn’t just about cannabis—it’s about public health.”
“We’re giving people tools to make informed decisions that protect themselves and their communities. Having OCM educational materials widely helps ensure that our customers leave with more than a product—they leave with knowledge,” she said. “Whether you’re in a dispensary or passing through a transit area, our goal is to meet you where you are with the cannabis information you need.”
Meanwhile, earlier this month, state cannabis regulators and labor officials announced the launch of a workforce training program aimed at “providing comprehensive safety education to workers” in the state’s legal marijuana industry.
Separately, OCM’s press secretary recently indicated the office is working on plans to expand permitting and licensing rules that could allow adults to buy and consume marijuana at movie theaters.
Authorizing sales of cannabis products at theaters would set New York apart as it continues to build upon the state’s legalization law.
Days earlier, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed a pair of companion bills into law that are meant to expand New York’s marijuana farmers market program, allowing for more partnerships between licensed cannabis businesses and standalone “pop-up” events.
New York initially authorized cannabis farmers market events in 2023, aiming to expedite consumers access as traditional retailers were being approved and help producers bring their products directly to market. Last December, Hochul separately signed legislation to revive the program after it sunsetted in January 2024.
The farmers market events as originally authorized were largely responsive to the slow roll-out of New York’s adult-use marijuana program, which faced multiple delays in implementation amid litigation. But the state’s industry has gradually expanded, with officials in January touting $1 billion in total sales since the market launched.
Meanwhile, state officials recently launched a grant program that will award up to $30,000 apiece to retail marijuana businesses to help cover startup costs.
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Also, earlier this year, a collective of businesses licensed under the CAURD program called on Hochul to forgive tens of millions of dollars in high-cost loans issued under a governor-created social equity loan fund.
Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes (D) said in December that there’s a need to extend financial aid to CAURD license holders, many of whom are struggling under the high-cost loans.
Critics—including the NAACP New York State Conference, Black Cannabis Industry Association, Minority Cannabis Business Association, Service Disabled Veterans in Cannabis Association, Drug Policy Alliance, NYC NORML and VOCAL-NY—wrote to the governor earlier that month to express dismay at what they described as marijuana regulators’ “efforts in service of big corporations at the expense of small business and equity outcomes.”
The advocates said at the time that since the departure of the state’s first chief cannabis regulator, Chris Alexander, last may May, state officials had demonstrated a “shift toward corporate interests at the expense of small business, justice-involved entrepreneurs, and Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licensees who are directly impacted by prior marijuana arrest.”
Last month, regulators also launched a new resource meant to connect licensed marijuana businesses with banks that are willing to work with the industry, even as federal prohibition continues to pose barriers to financial services.
In 2023, the governor signed legislation that aims to make it slightly easier for financial institutions to work with state-licensed cannabis clients.
The law authorized OCM to provide financial institutions with information about marijuana business licensees or applicants, which is meant to ease compliance with reporting requirements. Licensees and applicants would first have to consent to information being shared.
A recent budget proposal from Hochul aims to empower police who claim to smell marijuana to force a driver to take a drug test—a plan that’s drawing pushback not just from reform advocates but also from the state’s Assembly majority leader and the governor-appointed head of OCM.
Meanwhile in New York, the state Senate earlier this month approved a bill to expand housing protections for registered medical marijuana patients, aiming to prevent evictions based solely on their lawful use of cannabis.
Senators this session have also introduced a bill for the 2025 session to broadly decriminalize drug possession.
Several psychedelics bills have also been filed in New York—including one calling for the legalization of certain entheogenic substances such as psilocybin and ibogaine for adults 21 and older.
The governor argued in June, meanwhile, that there’s a direct correlation between stepped-up enforcement and “dramatically” increased legal sales. A report by state officials last year found both “growing pains” and “successful efforts” in New York’s marijuana market launch.
The post New York Marijuana Regulators Launch ‘Higher Education’ Campaign Ahead Of 4/20 To Help Adults Make ‘Safer And Informed Decisions’ appeared first on Marijuana Moment.
