New York’s adult-use cannabis market has had some major challenges, one of which has been the lack of retail space in which to sell product.

In Albany, there is now an opportunity for adult use cannabis retailers to sell weed at a medical marijuana retail dispensary.   

PharmaCann has become the first medical cannabis retail outlet to also sell recreational marijuana products. 

“So far, the experiment is going just as planned,” said Jeremy Unruh, PharmaCann’s senior vice president of public and regulatory affairs.  

Medical marijuana outlets, also known as Registered Organizations (ROs), are required to provide 50% of their shelf space to  adult-use cannabis retailers until January 2025; the percentage decreases after that.

Earlier this week, medical marijuana companies came to Albany to discuss their budget priorities with lawmakers. Unruh mentioned two priorities to Capital Tonight, including the elimination of the 6% tax on medical marijuana.

“There are no other pharmaceuticals that we tax medical patients for and so there’s really no reason, particularly in light of the adult use tax revenue opportunities, to continue penalizing our medical patients here in New York state,” he said. 

Unruh said medical marijuana advocates are also pushing for a patient reciprocity bill that would allow out-of-state medical patients to purchase products from dispensaries in New York state.