Hey Stashies!!! It remains a busy time for our team as we reach the end of this year! Right now, we are in the midst of conversations with cultivators to find the best flower in New York! Meanwhile, we have been keeping up with our reading and listening and continuing to learn from fellow entrepreneurs and others about the state of cannabis in New York State. Here are a list of articles and media we have been reading that has been helping to inform our conversations with those within the industry and to have a solid state of play of whats developing in the world of cannabis
Yesterday, Stash Queens was featured in NY Mag which featured a profile on Chris Alexander, the Executive Director of the Office of Cannabis Management. Chris and the OCM team have been all over the place in these last few months - issuing regulations, hosting community conversations and giving conditional licenses to the first crop of dispensaries that will all be run by justice-impacted businesses. While Stash Queens does not fit the OCM-definition of justice impacted applicants, we know that there is room at the table for our experience and for a Black women run business such as ours to make an impact and we are carving out the space to do just that!
Whats in YOUR Smoke?! The NYTimes came out with an illuminating article a week ago about the proliferating Black Market of cannabis at smoke shops and bodegas around the city. In a blog post earlier this year, we talked about the grey market that was filling in the gap while everyone awaited regulations and licenses from OCM and now we see how the unregulated market has harmful toxins within cannabis flower being offered to customers. While we know everyone is excited to jump into the market, one of the most beneficial selling points of a legalized market is knowing where your smoke comes from, its provenance and how it was handled from seed to sale. Knowing that a product is being tested and vetted means customers can make a more educated choice when purchasing and can avoid having toxins in their cannabis that can be harmful.
Speaking of cannabis, will there be enough? We have been hearing from growers and others that this first crop of cultivated flower is not world class…yet! But as of today, there is enough flower to go around if dispensaries were to open tomorrow. We are very curious to see what cultivators will be growing and harvesting over this next year! California is world renown for its bud, what will distinguish or make NY State flower stand out especially in the first few heady months of legal sales? What type of products or innovations will we see brands utilize to take advantage of the crops available to us?!
Black Women really are THE BEST and New York City government could not have chosen a better representative to usher in this new era of legalized sales than the appointment of Dasheeda Dawson who is leading Cannabis NYC. We are excited to work with Dasheeda and others to connect our team with burgeoning opportunities in the industry. She is knowledgable and trusted by many and we hope that people learn more about her path to cannabis and how she is positioning the city to be of assistance to cannabis entrepreneurs and those wanting to take part in this industry.
Finally, Stash Queens was featured last month on our first podcast Bluntly Black Girls and it gave 3/5 of our collective a chance to let our hair down and bring you into what we are thinking, feeling and smoking! Working with Jazzmyn was such a fun experience and we hope this is the first of many opportunities for the Stashies to learn more about our team and why we feel so passionately about pursuing our work.
Check out the links above to learn more about the topics discussed and we will see you all one last time before 2023 with our end of year wrap up! Till next time Stashies!!!
Comments