At NY Cannabis Insider’s full-day conference in White Plains last week, more than a dozen expert speakers opined on everything from the basics of running a retail shop to nuanced discussions about social equity and consumer behavior.
Held at the Sonesta White Plains Downtown, the event marked NY Cannabis Insider’s final live conference of 2023 and featured panel discussions about the state of New York’s legal cannabis industry in addition to 10 breakout sessions in which experts ran basic and advanced clinics on topics including accounting, insurance, real estate and more.
Kicking off the day, Joe Rossi, a managing director at Park Strategies – and leader of the firm’s Cannabis Practice Group – ran a session about the basics of New York’s legal cannabis industry.
During his presentation, Rossi spoke about the reasons why the U.S. government initially criminalized marijuana, how New York established a legal weed market and the challenges of joining the industry.
“If you think this is going to go seamlessly, I hope you walk away from this knowing that it’s not going to,” Rossi said, noting complications like a court injunction that’s keeping hundreds of Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensaries from opening. “The trend is — this is going to be a bit of a headache for a while.”
Following Rossi’s introductory presentation, LakeHouse Cannabis CEO Paul Suits, Jr., joined him for an advanced session on applying for a general license.
Suits developed the business plan and financial model for his Cortland dispensary, and applied for a license soon after the application period began in October.
When an audience member asked how many licenses the Office of Cannabis Management plans to release, Suits said the agency has released some numbers, but the reality is complicated.
“For the retail dispensaries, they’re saying anywhere between 500 and 1,000, and that does get a little convoluted,” Suits said. “We don’t know the number of those that will be the social and economic equity licenses, or the CAURD licenses who also have to apply for a non-conditional license.”
Dr. Jeffrey L. Reynolds – CEO of the Garden City-based Family and Children’s Association – and Imani Dawson – President of TCC Media – participated in a nuanced panel discussion about how cannabis industry advocates and skeptics can find a middle ground.
While Reynolds and Dawson had some disagreement about cannabis issues, they found a lot of common ground on subjects like safety, education and the harms that the War on Drugs-era enforcement did to communities across New York State.
“These are communities where kids weren’t often given another chance if they were found with a dime bag,” Dawson said. “That could … bar you from employment, from college aid, there was just this host of consequences.”
Audience members were treated to two info sessions by Union Square Travel Agency Operating Partner David Vautrin, who ran a cannabis retail 101 clinic, followed by a more advanced session.
During his basic cannabis retail presentation, Vautrin told the audience about what kinds of weed products customers are buying, and which ones – like beverages – he thinks have growth potential. He also answered questions about credit card transactions at dispensaries, what brands can do to appeal to customers and more.
In a more advanced session, Vautrin got into the weeds about how payments between vendors and retailers works, as well as finding and targeting marketing toward specific customer types, and more.
“Every single consumer type has a trait, an attribute and a format,” Vautrin said. “A non-smoker would go to a beverage, a gummy, a tincture; the connoisseur, they want fire weed … they want the concentrates.”
Tavian Crosland of the Social Equity Empowerment Network, Scheril Murray Powell, Esq. of The JUSTUS Foundation, and Terrence Coffie of Cannabis Justice & Equity Initiatives participated in a panel discussion on the social equity policies built into New York’s legal weed market, and whether they’re effective.
Panelists dove into topics including reasons social equity measures belong in cannabis policy, factors that undermine these efforts and the strengths and deficiencies of New York’s Cannabis Advisory Board – which will decide how the state spends much of its cannabis tax revenue.
“Some of the hardest conversations that I’ve had is the idea of a board deciding how funds are going to be distributed within an impacted community without having the voices of the individuals from that community,” Coffie said.
In a breakout session about basic cannabis accounting – followed by an advanced class – Citrin Cooperman Manager of Cannabis Services Renata Serban taught audience members about how businesses can forecast costs, revenue and customer behavior.
“It takes some effort to determine what will be your potential foot traffic,” Serban said. “Once you’ve determined the foot traffic, you need to determine … what is the average spending” per customer?
A panel discussion about steps that state policy makers and cannabis businesses can take to appeal to customers featured an all-star lineup of retailers: Damien Cornwell, CEO of Just Breathe in Binghamton; Coss Marte, CEO of CONBUD in Manhattan and Vautrin of Union Square Travel Agency in Manhattan.
A major subject panelists addressed was how legal marijuana dispensaries can compete with illegal shops that don’t have to follow any of New York’s regulations, including ones that make advertising difficult.
Marte said he thinks legal shops can compete with illicit stores with product variety and employees who can accurately describe them.
“We have a whole variety of ways to consume cannabis – whether it’s a pill, gummy, tincture – but these smoke shops, they say, ‘I’ve got eighths of gas,’” Marte said. “They don’t even know what strains they have … I think that’s a huge competitive advantage.”
NY Cannabis Insider’s full-day conference also included breakout sessions:
- Live “Ask Me Anything” about the cannabis industry in NYS: featuring Jeffrey Hoffman
- Insurance 101 [entry level]: A comprehensive rundown of what you need to know about insurance if planning to operate within the state’s cannabis ecosystem, featuring Eric Schneider of Alpharoot
- Insurance 301 [advanced]: An advanced course on insurance ins-and-outs for those already familiar with the industry who wish to learn more to keep their businesses and their futures safe, featuring Eric Schneider of Alpharoot.
- Real estate concepts: Featuring Kristin L. Jordan of Park Jordan LLC, and Christopher Miskolczi of Helbraun & Levey.
- Medical Cannabis 101 [entry level]: An overview of the endocannabinoid system, cannabinoids, ratios, products and uses, featuring Sang Choi of Etain.