New York’s legal cannabis program is being overhauled. Here’s where officials say it failed.

NEW YORK — New York’s Office of Cannabis Management is being overhauled after a review ordered by Gov. Kathy Hochul found the state’s rollout of legalized recreational marijuana has been a failure.

A new report released Friday says inexperienced leadership and an underspent budget are just a few of several missteps by the OCM.

As part of the overhaul, the governor announced that Chris Alexander, the executive director of the Office of Cannabis Management, will be stepping down in September to “pursue other opportunities.”

Review of New York’s legal cannabis program highlights failures

The review of the rollout found a laundry list of failures, including inexperienced leadership.

According to the report, the agency also failed to spend $26 million that could have helped clear the application backlog and failed to use existing state resources. For example, the agency tried to create its own map of schools and houses of worship where pot shops are forbidden from opening even though the state liquor authority already had a map.

Hochul did add, “Let me be clear — there are deep-seated issues at OCM. Issues that have limited its ability to fulfill its licensing role.”

The governor announced a major overhaul of the agency. The process will involve:

New York cracking down on illegal pot shops

The report shows there are 122 licensed pot shops across New York state with, as of the end of April, a backlog of nearly 4,900 applications still waiting to be reviewed. The report also found 90% of dispensary applicants in New York failed to get licenses.

Meanwhile, in New York City alone, there are over 2,900 illegal marijuana shops.

“We’re taking the illegal cannabis shops that destabilize our neighborhoods, taking them on with a plan that padlocks doors, that allows localities to pass laws of their own and goes after the landlords that knowingly rent to illegal shops,” Hochul said.  

“Our target on the criminal side will the the drug traffickers that are flooding New York state with illegal cannabis, supplying the shops that have set up all over the state, disrupting the legal market,” said R. Christopher West, first deputy superintendent of New York State Police.

A lawyer who represents people seeking legal licenses thinks the new crackdown is good but will take time.

“It’s going to be a process. It’s not going to be flipping on a light switch, but we will get there, I think, eventually,” attorney Benjamin Rattner said.

Dispensary applicants in New York trying to keep up with changing process

Iris Ladao submitted her application to open a legal cannabis dispensary in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn back in November.

“We’ve just been playing the waiting game,” she said. “We haven’t gotten any sort of timeline on when our application might be reviewed.”

In those six months, she’s been paying the rent on her empty store, since a lease is required for the application.

“We’re following the rules. We’re making sure that all along the way, even as the goal posts change and the regulations and the rules were changing, we can still adapt and meet the needs that were asked of us,” Ladao said.

“The guidance from the Office of Cannabis Management changes and has changed throughout the process,” Rattner said. “What people are led to expect based on what’s in the regulations does not match up with the guidance.”

Paula Dowds was hoping a Harlem storefront on Frederick Douglass Boulevard would be her new cannabis dispensary.

“We were trying to get all our ducks in a row and process the paperwork,” she said.

But navigating the licensing process has left her empty-handed.

“It’s been more than difficult. We can’t get responses on the phone … It’s just one big circle of being dragged along,” Dowds said.

Marcia Kramer

Marcia Kramer joined CBS2 in 1990 as an investigative and political reporter. Prior to CBS2, she was the City Hall bureau chief at the New York Daily News.