The state Office of Cannabis Management will start to monitor how efficiently New York farmers grow cannabis in the coming months to ensure indoor and outdoor grows align with the state's broad green energy mandates.
Members of the state Cannabis Advisory Board on Tuesday detailed plans to grow New York's recreational marijuana industry as sustainably as possible as OCM undergoes significant changes.
The department will launch a free online tool in the first week of September for cultivators to track electricity and water use, waste and more. Licensed cultivators must submit an annual report and sustainability plan to OCM by Aug. 31, 2025.
"You can't improve what you don't measure and you can't track what you don't measure," OCM Director of Policy John Kagia said during Tuesday's regular Cannabis Advisory Board meeting.
OCM officials discussed the resource, called PowerScore, at the meeting held in New York City — encouraging growers to prioritize sustainable practices like using LED lights indoors, or reducing water and waste and ultimately save money.
The state has netted more than a half-billion dollars in revenue from legal cannabis sales since they started in December 2022, OCM officials said Tuesday.
Beyond Plastics President Judith Enck said the state must also get ahead of plastic pollution in cannabis products as the market takes off.
"This is a unique problem that should call for regulation that says, 'Do not use plastic, full stop,'" she said.
Enck said littered cannabis product packaging often ends up in storm drains and streams — filling the ocean with a substantial amount of plastic waste.
Sustainability data submitted to OCM could influence future regulations or incentives for licensees to be more efficient over the longterm. But those rules could depend how the Legislature regulates single-use plastic products and waste.
Legislation known as the Packaging and Recycling Infrastructure Act, which would limit the use of single-use plastic packaging and chemicals statewide cleared the Senate this session, but died in the Assembly.
It passed through all committees, but was never brought to the floor for a vote. Enck said it's only a matter of time before it clears both houses of the Legislature to become state policy.
"I think the handwriting is on the wall [for] some point soon," she added. "We're not giving up. Plastic pollution is not going away, and neither are we."
With 165 dispensaries open statewide, legal sales have grown 2% week over week in August, according to OCM.
The department credits higher law enforcement actions since changes in the last budget, leading to the closure of more than 1,000 illicit shops since May.
During the meeting, Kagia said growers must be creative to be energy efficient while not driving up product costs, or making legal shops less competitive against the illegal market.
"We're very intentional, very conscious about trying to keep the cost down because this is already a high-cost state to operate in," he said.
The Cannabis Advisory Board on Tuesday did not discuss ongoing changes within OCM after a May 10 report by the state Office of General Services revealed deep-seated issues within the agency.