New York weed farmers said they are “financially ruined” after Governor Kathy Hochul vetoed legislation that would have allowed licensed marijuana growers to sell products to tribal retailers.
The legislation, called the Cannabis Crop Rescue Act, sought to assist farmers grappling with unsold cannabis yields as it would have provided growers with another legal avenue to offload products amid lawsuits and other delays since the sales of legal, regulated adult-use cannabis officially began last December in New York. The bill was passed by both chambers of the Legislature in June and was sponsored by state Senator Michelle Hinchey and Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, who chair their agriculture committees.
However, on Friday, Hochul vetoed the legislation, leaving farmers with the surplus supply as they are unable to offload millions of dollars worth of unsold marijuana.
“Meanwhile, many of our farmers remain financially ruined by circumstances beyond their control,” Hinchey and Lupardo said in a statement. “We remain committed to helping the farmers and processors that NY’s legal cannabis industry depends on in any way possible.”
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Newsweek has reached out to Hochul, Hinchey and Lupardo via email for comment.
“We offered a way for some of the oversupply of cannabis grown by NY’s farmers to be sold to NY’s Tribal Nations. Given the fact that this temporary measure would have expired on December 31st anyway, the veto is hardly a surprise,” Hinchey and Lupardo added.
The veto also comes after 66 members of the Legislature sent a letter urging the governor to sign the measure in September, citing the increase in concerns over 250,000 pounds of unsold cannabis.
“Right now, there are over 200 cannabis farmers trying to sell their crops but only 23 dispensaries open statewide,” the bipartisan Senate and Assembly members wrote in the open letter to Hochul. “This has resulted in more than 250,000 pounds of unsold cannabis. Farmers who took out loans and leveraged all their assets to cultivate these crops are demoralized and facing financial disaster unless we act quickly to provide them with an alternate market.”
The letter continues to emphasize the ongoing challenges farmers face as the legal market grapples with regulatory delays and legal entanglements.
“Regulatory delays, lawsuits, and logistical and financing challenges have caused the state to miss its timelines and targets,” the letter said. “However, cultivators are the group paying the steepest price.”
The growing legislation in the cannabis industry comes as President Joe Biden issued a proclamation on Friday pardoning certain marijuana offenses, building on his earlier action from last year on the issue.
He also granted clemency for 11 people serving jail sentences for non-violent drug offenses, including some that received mandatory life sentences whom he said would have been eligible for significantly lower sentences if they had been charged with the same offense today.
“I have exercised my clemency power more than any recent predecessor has at this point in their presidency,” Biden said in a statement announcing the action.
In October 2022, Biden announced pardons for thousands of people who had been convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal law and in the District of Columbia. It was the most significant action the Biden administration had taken on decriminalizing marijuana, which is illegal under federal law, even though most states have moved to legalize it, decriminalize it or make it legal for medical purposes.
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