NY CAURD Coalition
CAURD (Conditional Adult Use Recreational Dispensary) is overseen by the OCM (Office of Cannabis Management) and is responsible for issuing the licenses from CAURD and building an infrastructure around it at the same time. Not that easy.
OCM has created the rules and regulations around CAURD, decides who gets the licenses, and tried to be fair and equitable by giving this first round to previously incarcerated people and non-profits helping incarcerated people enter the world. They have pushed back the entry of MSOs (multiple state operators, aka big cannabis businesses), giving this first round of NYers the ability to build a business without massive mature competition.
Another group, DAISNY (Dormitory Authority of the State of New York), is part of all these initiatives. They finance all of the public construction needs. Their mission is to give real estate to those previously incarcerated who now have a license, including an opportunity to borrow money from a $200M fund. This has been extremely hard to pull off.
Many of these new operators will need help to succeed. Some will need help with primary business practices. As always, there needs to be help from the private world here. The NYCAURD Commission was put together with that in mind. Jayson and Britni Tantalo, co-founders of Flower City Hydroponics and Jeremy Rivera, a construction consultant, safety instructor, and co-owner of Kush Industries, and Coss Matre of Conbody and Conbud, have all applied for licenses. They did not receive a license in the first round but more than likely will in the rounds to come. They have all banded together to roll out educational help for those getting into the cannabis business.
This collaboration is true community. We can all collaborate and learn from everyone getting into this business. Every person I have talked to has gone out of their way to explain and help. It is pretty amazing the enthusiasm and desire to help. It is exciting to see this community start to rise.
Huge applause to the NYCAURD Commission team, who have done this out of the goodness of their hearts and desires to see a win for all of those on the ground floor of this developing NY business.