New York has expanded access to Cannabis Showcase Events, giving licensed microbusinesses more ways to participate in temporary markets and reach consumers beyond traditional dispensaries. The change creates new opportunities for small operators, although events remain tightly regulated and growers still face the broader challenges of cost, competition, and compliance.

Buying vegetables, artisanal cheese, and weed at the same market isn’t exactly what most people picture when they think of New York’s regulated cannabis industry. But the state has just taken another step in that direction.

Governor Kathy Hochul signed a law on August 6th that expands opportunities for small weed producers to participate in so-called Cannabis Showcase Events, temporary events that can be held at farmers’ markets, public markets, and other designated spaces. The goal is quite specific: to open new sales channels for small operators that don’t always have the budget, distribution network, or reach of larger companies.

“This new law gives licensed microbusinesses and dispensaries a real chance to succeed in New York’s legal cannabis market,” Hochul said when announcing the measure. According to the governor, enabling these spaces levels the playing field for small entrepreneurs and, at the same time, expands access to regulated products.

What Changes for Small Cannabis Producers in New York?

The issue may seem technical, but it has practical consequences. Microbusinesses occupy a unique place within the New York model because they can integrate different parts of the cannabis supply chain on a small scale. The problem was that their participation in Showcase Events was restricted: they could sell their own products, but not fully exercise all the activities covered by their licenses.

The new legislation, S.10113/A.11217, removes this limitation and allows these businesses to participate in Cannabis Showcase Events as cultivators, processors, and retailers, according to the authorizations included in their licenses.

And why does this matter? Because producing cannabis and finding a place to sell it are two very different problems.

Senator Michelle Hinchey, one of the bill’s sponsors, put it this way: many microbusinesses are small farms without large marketing budgets or easy access to retail. A growers’ showcase offers them something much more basic, but also valuable: putting their products directly in front of consumers.

In addition to selling, these events can serve to introduce a brand, explain how its products are produced, build brand awareness, and develop relationships with buyers who might otherwise never meet the producer through a traditional dispensary.

It’s Not Exactly an ‘Anything-Goes’ Cannabis Fair

However, talking about cannabis showcase events can make them sound much more informal than they actually are.

Cannabis Showcase Events are subject to an extensive set of requirements imposed by the state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM). Participation is subject to several requirements, including written approval from the municipality, a prior application to the OCM, age verification to prevent entry by—or sales to—anyone under 21, and security plans and incident reports. Required minimum distances from schools, places of worship, and certain youth facilities must also be maintained.

Furthermore, on-site cannabis use and the distribution of free samples or promotional products are prohibited. Another important distinction is that, under Showcase Event rules, sales are conducted by the licensed retailer holding the event permit. Growers and processors may display their products, but cannot sell them directly to the public or distribute samples.

Events can last up to 14 consecutive days, and a single location cannot host them for more than 45 days per calendar year. If an event is held within a farmers’ market or public market, written authorization from the relevant authorities is also required.

In other words, New York is bringing cannabis closer to the farmers-market model, but without removing it from the regulatory framework governing the rest of the industry.

A Growing, Increasingly Competitive Market

This measure comes as New York’s legal cannabis market has already reached considerable scale. In March, on the fifth anniversary of the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, the government reported that cumulative legal sales had reached $3.3 billion.

By then, the state had 610 licensed retail dispensaries and 2,161 adult-use cannabis licenses issued throughout the supply chain. Of those, 56% had been granted to applicants enrolled in the state’s Social and Economic Equity Program.

But granting a license is only part of the equation. Then comes the harder part: making the business work. For a small farm, participating in a farmers’ market doesn’t solve the cost pressures, competition, or other challenges of operating within a highly regulated industry. But it does create another platform to sell products, build recognition, and connect directly with consumers who may eventually choose them.

In a market that already moves billions of dollars, securing a place to showcase what you produce is another way to compete.

Cover photo created with AI.

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After five years, two applications, six figures in expenses, and a maze of shifting rules, one New York cannabis entrepreneur finally secured a retail license—and learned how legalization can still punish the people it was supposed to help.

The process to get to this point has been, in a word, farcical. From shifting goalposts to inexplicable delays, New York’s recreational cannabis license rollout has come with significant teething pains.

Despite my best efforts to do everything by the book—and most of the time there was no book to follow—roadblock followed roadblock with little way to push back. Now that my license is approved, I finally feel comfortable lifting the lid on what this bureaucratic nightmare has been like from the inside.

This Felt Like an Opportunity Made for Us

New York approved recreational cannabis in 2021 and announced its legal sales framework the following year. Kudos to lawmakers for this policy, but unfortunately, legalization and regulation didn’t move in lockstep.

The plan was to first launch retail dispensaries under Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licenses—special permits that prioritize those convicted of a state marijuana-related offense. The intention here was good: prioritize people most harmed by prohibition, get them into the legal market first, and then open regular licensing to everyone else.

But there was a catch. At the time, the state planned to source and sublease a space to you under CAURD. For an entrepreneur, that sounded less like owning a business and more like being handed the keys to someone else’s. In any case, it was our best shot and we took it.

My business partner spent three years in prison on state and federal cannabis charges, which meant we were, on paper, exactly who the program was designed for. We hired an attorney, got our ducks in a row, and applied in 2022. For us, it felt like the state was finally righting past wrongs, and this was our opportunity for the taking. Then the lawsuits started.

Roadblock After Roadblock

The first delay came in 2023 after a federal judge blocked five regions in New York (including ours, of course) from opening dispensaries. An out-of-state applicant alleged they were unconstitutionally disadvantaged by cannabis regulations that “favor” state residents. The courts soon lifted that CAURD block, but others followed, leading to a cat-and-mouse game of injunctions that froze everything.

After six months of stalemate, we started to perceive changes at the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM). My attorney’s reading, and he wasn’t alone, was that the conditional program was effectively being wound down in favor of processing everyone in the normal round. The OCM rushed to open that window and we rushed with it, resulting in another application and another round of legal fees.

The regular license requirements—released with barely two months’ notice—introduced new hoops to jump through. This application round required site control, meaning we needed to prove ownership or an active lease for our proposed cannabis business. This left us scrambling to sign a lease that not only made commercial sense in Buffalo but also complied with distance requirements from schools, churches, and parks. We applied just before the end of the year only to find our luck was going from bad to worse.

Unlike CAURD, which seemed to operate on a first-come, first-served basis, the regular round was a lottery. Out of 2,200 hopeful applicants in New York, we were around position 2,100. There was nothing to do but wait and pay for an empty storefront in the meantime, 2500 dollars a month and counting.

Congratulations, Now Give It Back

Then, in the fall of 2024, there was a breakthrough. Without word or warning, the original conditional license was approved at random. But it was too good to be true: OCM wouldn’t allow us to use the conditional license at our leased location. Their position, communicated to my attorney in writing, was that a CAURD license couldn’t be used to open at a storefront already attached to a pending regular application. Both applications were identical in every other detail, but it didn’t matter.

Our options: Keep the conditional and withdraw our regular application, which would have meant losing our proximity protection at that location. Proximity protection is a board-granted status that places your storefront on an official map and prevents any future licensee from opening within 1,000 feet. Losing it would mean reapplying from scratch, going to the back of the line, and hoping it would be granted again. Or, we wait to open our preferred location with the regular license. So, we handed back our hard-fought conditional license and spent another year-and-a-half in limbo.

Last summer marked the final, painful stretch. An analyst from OCM picked through our application and flagged minor deficiencies one at a time, with two weeks between responses. Then, after three more months of radio silence, there was one last problem in October: a single wrong digit in the address on our municipality notification letter—a required filing that gave the local government 30 days to raise objections to the proposed dispensary. Sure, it was a different unit but still in the same plaza, and yet it triggered a mandatory month-long response window anyway. 

That timeframe expired in December, which in turn was too close to the next board meeting to make the agenda. January’s meeting was canceled without explanation. We finally won our regular recreational cannabis license in February of this year.

All of This Just To Sell Some Weed

It’s a mix of emotions to be on the other side of this process. Honestly, the most overwhelming feeling is anger because it really didn’t need to be so hard or expensive. Two rounds of legal consultation and two years of rent aren’t chump change. And that’s without factoring in taxes, utilities, administrative costs, and the sheer time investment. Applicants shouldn’t be expected to front up that kind of money just to have a shot, particularly when the whole point was to give people like my partner their chance in the legal market. The kicker when approval finally came? The congratulations email arrived alongside a $7,000 fee to issue the certificate for in-store display.

There’s also a feeling of disappointment that we’ve lost a lot of opportunity in the interim. We were on track to be a first adopter for New York recreational cannabis. Now competitors have years of online reviews, customer loyalty, and brand recognition. The headstart the CAURD program was supposed to give us has been completely inverted.

Meanwhile, amid the countless stops and starts in trying to follow the letter of the law, the gray market grew exponentially. Sticker shops popped up on seemingly every other corner across New York, letting customers purchase stickers or other small goods and receive cannabis as a “gift”. Enforcement is slowly ramping up, but a $10,000 fine isn’t much of a deterrent to $100,000 in illicit sales, especially when customers who go the legal route face added taxes and higher prices. We were drowning in paperwork while the unlicensed market went on comparatively freely, and that same market still threatens to eat into our customer base before we’ve sold a single gram.

But despite everything, surprisingly, I remain hopeful. I know the ins and outs of this industry—founding Vitality CBD in a largely unregulated hemp market, advocating for clearer rules, and always believing that the barriers would eventually come down. Now, having seen the iterations of cannabis over the years, legalization has arrived in my state and I’m licensed to legally sell the same plant that my business partner was locked up for. Even though it was painful, and even though there are many kinks to iron out, that fact alone makes it worth it. Perhaps the hope is misplaced but it’s still there all the same.

This article was written by an external contributor based on their firsthand experience navigating New York’s cannabis licensing process. The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of High Times. Regulatory details were accurate to the best of the author’s knowledge at the time of publication.

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New York City may be known for its marquee lights and Broadway legends, but in early June, the spotlight belonged to cannabis—and one EGOT-winning icon who brought a dose of star power to the industry’s premier East Coast B2B event.

At the 2025 Cannabis Means Business Conference & Expo (CMB), Whoopi Goldberg stole the show. The actress, comedian, and entrepreneur introduced Whoop-Tea, her new line of infused beverages created in partnership with South Jersey-based Pure Genesis. Marketed as a “crisp blend” of iced tea, lemonade, and 10mg of hemp-derived THC, the drink represents Goldberg’s mission to create a wellness product rooted in decades of personal cannabis use.

“This is like having a cocktail—but without the alcohol,” Goldberg told a packed crowd during her fireside chat with CNBC’s Tim Seymour. “If you don’t want to drink alcohol but want a light buzz, this is your drink.” 

Her candid reflections, from managing pain and period cramps with cannabis to the systemic hurdles faced by Black women entrepreneurs, struck a chord in a hall filled with founders, investors, and aspiring moguls. “We’re not waiting for anyone,” she declared to cheers. “We are making it work for ourselves.”

Tech, Trends, and a Taste of the Future

The Javits Center buzzed with energy for two full days as CMB—formerly known as CWCBExpo—welcomed over 75 exhibitors, with a strong East Coast showing. From AI-powered packaging trackers to a joint-printing machine that drew more than a few Instagram stories, the expo floor was a laboratory of innovation. Panels touched on everything from international expansion to beverage infusion trends, with voices like Franny Tacy, Cynthia Salarizadeh, and Dr. Chanda Macias offering insight into the next frontier for cannabis branding and wellness.

The conference’s refreshed identity reflected the maturing cannabis marketplace: less flash, more function. And yet, the networking scene was anything but dull. Tuesday night’s rooftop NORML FORML set the tone with sweeping skyline views and policy conversations over cocktails. Wednesday’s O2Vape-sponsored yacht party offered a floating dancefloor and front-row seat to a smogless Manhattan sunset.

A Marketplace with Heart—and Momentum

CMB’s programming uplifted entrepreneurs at every stage. Cannabis & Tech Today’s own Editor-in-Chief, Charles Warner, led a workshop on AI’s transformative role in cannabis operations. Across panels, speakers urged pragmatism and adaptability in an industry increasingly defined by shifting regulations, cautious capital, and consumer demand for low-dose, reliable formats. Beverage sales alone are expected to top $3 billion by year’s end, according to Hype Magazine.

Yet amidst the market talk, CMB 2025 never lost its human thread. Thursday’s Women in Cannabis Entrepreneur Luncheon offered a platform for leaders like Kymberly “KymB” Byrnes, Degelis Tufts Pilla, and Faye Coleman to celebrate wins—and strategize for what’s next.

As the conference came to a close, one sentiment rang clear: Cannabis may mean business, but it’s personal too. Whether you’re launching a brand, lobbying for policy, or—like Whoopi—just tired of hiding what you love, the industry is carving space for more stories, more ownership, and more impact.

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