Sales of cannabis for recreational use in the state of New York have this week exceeded $1 billion accumulated since its legalization in 2022, as announced this Sunday by Governor Kathy Hochul.
The Democratic governor noted on her “X” social network account that sales of legal cannabis “have skyrocketed” after authorities cracked down this year on unlicensed stores that proliferated after the market opened, especially in the Big Apple.
The Office of Cannabis Management announced the milestone in a statement this past Thursday and attributed it to the almost 300 legal cannabis dispensaries in operation, adding that in 2024 alone authorities closed 450 illegal stores and seized almost 8 tons of products.
Sales of cannabis – from the marijuana plant – are a fiscal asset for the state, which in fiscal year 2023 obtained about 80 million dollars in taxes and commissions, and halfway through fiscal year 2024 it already amounted to 67 million, according to the note. .
Despite everything, New York is far from other consolidated cannabis markets in the United States, such as California, the state with the highest sales in the country, which amounted to about $4.4 billion in 2023 alone, according to the latest available data.
The development of the cannabis market in New York has been slower than expected, since recreational use was legalized in 2021 but the first store did not open until the end of 2022, and the delivery of licenses is linked to social reintegration policies for groups disadvantaged.
The Office has approved or issued 5,250 licenses in the last two years – covering the entire supply chain, from cultivation and processing to sales and distribution – and many of them have been for businesses created by women and racial minorities, indicates the note.
(With information from EFE)
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