Medical Flower Now Allowed in New York

Finally, licensed Marijuana dispensaries in New York can go ahead with stocking and selling grown and cured cannabis flowers. The latest move by the state's cannabis control board was made in preparation for next year's recreational cannabis sales.

The state is bent on regaining the time it lost when Andrew Cuomo stalled with the selection process. This new policy announcement was made after the members of the state's cannabis control board voted that it was the right time to permit all medical cannabis stores to sell cannabis flowers to interested patients. This change took effect immediately after the announcement was made.

Patients can now buy cannabis flower

In a state with more than 150,000 medical patients, New York sure took its time to authorize this change.

Legalizing the sale of cannabis flowers in New York is a piece of breakthrough news. Not every patient enjoys using non-flower products, in addition to this, the effects of most non-flower products take a longer period to kick in.

The previous limitation only authorized the sale of tinctures and edibles to these individuals. People have unique body systems, so while these modalities were perfect for some, it was ineffective for others. When cannabis buds are lit and consumed the effects can be felt in seconds, depending on the composition and variety of the used flower.

Another welcome development is that the board also approved a new purchase limit for medical patients. Before this change, patients were only allowed to purchase at most 30 days supply of their prescribed medical cannabis products, now they would be able to stock up for about 60 days.

The cannabis control board also disclosed that new patients will not be mandated to pay the $50 registration fee. In the past new patients were required to pay this amount to be registered into the medical cannabis program. Many of these individuals who couldn't afford to pay this fee, were dropped off. This announcement means medical cannabis will finally be accessible and affordable to everyone.

Dispensary operators weren't expecting this news

State-licensed dispensaries like MedMen, Etain, and Be all claimed to have been taken by surprise with the newest change. They concurred that they have received official information from the cannabis control board and it was now legal to stock and sell well-cured flowers. They also mentioned that they are yet to stock the product on their shelves.

For the past few days since the change took effect, these dispensaries have found themselves receiving calls from registered patients asking for the availability of state-licensed cannabis flowers. For now, no one has cannabis bids for sale, frontline staff members revealed that it could take days or even weeks for the stores to stock these packaged flower products on the shelves.

To purchase these flowers when they are stocked, cannabis patients will have to tender a legit identification measure to show they are registered under the state's medical program. This will prevent other cannabis users from exploiting the new change. The cannabis flowers are meant only for registered cannabis patients, it does not mean in any way that recreational cannabis sales have begun. This has been spelled out clearly by the authorities to clear up any form of confusion.

In four to six weeks, 8 weeks at most, almost all new dispensaries will have begun the sales of cannabis flowers. Leafly reported this on Wednesday after placing some calls to a number of New York dispensary officials.

In one of these calls the regional president of Curaleaf, Patrik Johnson, mentioned that his company had taken the first step in stocking cannabis flowers by submitting cannabis flowers for review and testing by the regulatory board. According to Johnson, securing approval should take about three weeks. So, before mid-November, Curaleaf will have cannabis buds sitting beautifully on its shelves waiting for cannabis patients to purchase them.

Implementing the new policy

Dispensaries claim that the cannabis control board has failed to provide full information on how the actual implementation of the policy will go on.

All everybody knows is that there is a new policy that now permits the sales of cannabis flowers, but there's little knowledge on how the change will be implemented.

Many questions are unanswered, and the most important of all is how these New York dispensaries are expected to sell the new product.

In cannabis legal states that already permit the sale of cannabis buds in licensed stores, the products are either kept in transparent jars that make seeing and smelling the product easy for customers, or they are sold in tightly sealed wrappers that cannot be opened unless the product has been bought.

Most of these dispensaries keep a sample of their products in easy to open jars, with information on the flowers being provided upon inquiry.

So which way will the cannabis control board propose cannabis flowers be sold?

Why did it take this long?

Policymakers and cannabis advocates have been at loggerheads over the prohibition of cannabis flowers over the years. When the medical cannabis program was first established, concerned parties agreed that they would be non-flower programs.

At that time, legislators were not fully into the availability of cannabis flowers as legitimate drugs. They were agreeable to approving the use of cannabis products in tinctures and edibles.

Florida was the first state to establish this path. Once Florida included cannabis flowers in its list of approved products for sales in licensed dispensaries, the industry saw an influx of new patient applications as well as an increase in generated revenues

New York To Experience Same

Market Analysts say that with the immediate implementation of the new policies, purchasing is expected to ramp up in full gear.

With a population of about 20 million, New York should not be having only 150,000 medical patients. The new changes will likely be followed by an increase in applications, and the figure should double or triple by the same time, next year. New York cannabis arrests are down 90% since legalization.

The cannabis control board must look into clarifying all confusions the dispensaries might be experiencing now— To ensure the smooth and effective implementation of the new policies.