Chautauqua County Sheriff Jim Quattrone invited Dr. Kevin Sabet to speak about his concerns on cannabis legalization in New York State at a conference in Celoron on May 1, 2023.

Dr. Kevin Sabet presents on marijuana legalization (May 1, 2023)

Dr. Kevin Sabet presents on marijuana legalization (May 1, 2023)

A former Presidential drug policy advisor stated marijuana is the “most misunderstood drug in the United States” during presentations in Chautauqua County Monday.

Dr. Kevin Sabet is the President and CEO of both the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions and Smart Approaches to Marijuana. He was invited to speak in the county by Sheriff Jim Quattrone.

Sabet said he doesn’t want to see the country make the same mistakes as with tobacco and alcohol, which have killed more people than all opioid drugs and other drugs combined, “And, part of the reason that’s the case is that they are legalized, commercialized, normalized, and pushed by a for-profit industry. And my worry about marijuana legalization in New York is that we’re moving a little bit too fast towards that mass commercialization. And I don’t want to see people in prison or anything. I don’t want to see people get a criminal record for marijuana or really any other drug use. I want them to get help. But it should be something we’re trying to discourage generally, not encourage.”

Sabet said he finds it worrisome that some municipalities that have opted in with marijuana legalization are betting on marijuana sales to improve the economy and workforce. He said the potency of marijuana available today is much higher than what was available in previous decades, “It’s really not regulated well at all, even in the dispensaries because the FDA doesn’t look at it. It’s not federally legal, so it’s kind of legal gray area federally. And we’re seeing huge increases in psychosis, schizophrenia, we’re seeing big hospital costs with hyperemesis syndrome which is this chronic vomiting syndrome among people who use a lot.”

Sabet said he thinks there should be an advertising campaign aimed at people age 25 and younger about how their brains are vulnerable to drugs and alcohol, “There should be an ad campaign discouraging kids to use, and really, anyone under 25 technically, number one. Number two, we need to have strict advertising restrictions. There are none and I worry about that. Number three, we should have limits on THC potency. There is no reason we need to be selling 90% potent concentrates that can have a very deleterious effect on anyone of any age on their mental health.”

Sheriff Quattrone said the people at Dr. Sabet’s presentation included law enforcement, health providers, and drug prevention, who he said will all need to work together on substance use issues. He added that he’d still like clarity from New York State on marijuana regulations, which he said is lacking.

Dr. Kevin Sabet is the President and CEO of both the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions and Smart Approaches to Marijuana. He has studied, researched, written about, and implemented drug policy for more than 25 years.

Sabet has published several books including bestseller, “Smokescreen: What the Marijuana Industry Doesn’t Want You To Know,” which has been optioned for a documentary film that will be released this year or in 2024.

His work as a government advisor began in the Clinton Administration as a researcher, and he was the senior speechwriter on drug policy in the Bush Administration. He returned to government in 2009, where he was asked to assist in drafting President Obama’s National Drug Control Strategy as a senior advisor

Dr. Sabet will deliver his presentation from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. at the Chautauqua Harbor Hotel in Celoron and again from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at SUNY Fredonia’s Williams Center.

Both presentations are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Sheriff Jim Quattrone at 716-753-4900 or by email at QUATTRONE@sheriff.us.

The State Office of Cannabis Management announced applications for Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licenses are now being accepted online. Licenses to sell adult-use cannabis will be awarded people who were most impacted by the enforcement of the prohibition of cannabis.

To be eligible for these licenses, applicants must:
• Have a marijuana-related offense conviction that occurred prior to the passage of the Marijuana Regulation and Tax Act (MRTA) on March 31, 2021, or have had a parent, legal guardian, child, spouse, or dependent with a pre-MRTA marijuana related offense conviction in the State of New York.
• And have experience owning and operating a qualifying business.

The application window will close on September 26, 2022. More information for applicants can be found at https://cannabis.ny.gov/caurd

The ReLeaf Market Owner Kerry Trammel

A Kiantone business is one of 52 businesses granted a conditional license to grow cannabis in New York State.

The ReLeaf Market, located on Foote Avenue Extension, got the news Thursday, April 14 from the state. Owner Kerry Trammel said one of the qualifications required to get the license that the Releaf Market met was that they had been growing hemp for two years.

She said while Kiantone has opted out of allowing retail dispensaries and consumption lounges, the cultivation of cannabis is still legal in the town.

Trammel said that ReLeaf Market is only licensed to grow cannabis at this time, “Basically, we’re cultivating the cannabis so that when dispensary licenses are given out, they have a product that they can purchase from us and sell to the communities.”

She said that they can cultivate up to one-acre of a farm they have in Chautauqua County or grow in a greenhouse that has a maximum size of 20,000 square feet. If both are done, the grow space is limited to 30,000 square feet, “We can hold a cultivation license, the conditional cultivation license, for two years. And after that two years we can already be applied for one of the other licenses that has come out or apply for the cultivation license to continue. So we have an option. Hopefully, those licenses will be out before the two years are up.”

Trammel said the whole process of starting to grow cannabis is highly regulated, “It’s going to be modeled more like the medical side of it – lots of security, everything is tracked seed to sale, so we’ll have bar codes on everything and fences around all of the property. So, yeah, it’s a lot of work to get done in a short amount of time.”

Trammel said they hope to start planting by June 12 with the hope that some dispensaries will have received licensing so that they can sell their product by the end of the year.

Jamestown City Council

Jamestown City Council President Tony Dolce confirmed to WRFA that despite the introduction of local law last month calling for the city to “opt out” of allowing cannabis dispensaries to operate within the city as well as to allow on-site consumption of cannabis products, the council has decided it will take no action on the proposal.

As a result, there will be no public hearing scheduled on the law and there will be no subsequent vote during this month’s council voting session.

Under the state law approved earlier this year, municipalities across New York have until December 31 of this year to “opt out”. If they don’t opt out by that deadline, they will no longer have the opportunity to do so once the New Year begins. However, municipalities that do decide to opt out can still reverse the decision at any point moving forward.

Municipalities that choose to “opt in” could potentially see a bump in sales tax revenues once dispensaries are allowed to open given that they would receive 4% of the 13% tax collected by New York State on cannabis products.

Under New York State’s Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (“MRTA”), local municipalities have the opportunity to opt out of allowing retail dispensaries and on-site consumption licensees to operate within their jurisdiction. To do so, the town, village, or city’s legislative body must adopt a local law to ‘opt out’ by December 31, 2021. In August alone, the boards of three local townships have voted to opt out: Ellicott (on Aug. 16), Carroll (on Aug. 11), and Busti (on Aug. 2).

But even with the town board’s approval to ‘opt out’, the local law is still subject to a permissive referendum governed by New York State Municipal Home Rule Law. State law provides that the proposed local law takes effect 45 days after its adoption, unless a valid petition requesting a permissive referendum is filed with the municipality’s clerk within that 45-day period. Any individual who was qualified and registered to vote in the last general election can file a petition calling for the permissive referendum. In order to force a public vote on the local law, the petition must be signed and authenticated by at least 10 percent of the total number of votes cast for governor during the last gubernatorial election in the respective municipality.

The last gubernatorial election was in 2018. In the town of Ellicott 3,455 people voted for governor that year, meaning a minimum of 346 signatures would have to be collected to force a public vote. Meanwhile, the total number of votes for governor in the Town of Busti was 3,319, meaning 332 signatures would have to be collected. In the Town of Carroll the number was 1,445, meaning 145 signatures would have to be collected.

Besides any qualified local resident having the opportunity to submit a petition, any member of the town board can also present a resolution within 45 days of the local laws passage, calling for a public vote on the matter. If a majority of the town board approves the proposed resolution, a public vote would then take place.

In addition to townships having the ability to ‘opt out’, each village in the township also has the choice to opt out or allow dispensaries to open, regardless of what their township does. For example, even though the Town of Ellicott opted out, both the village of Celoron and the Village of Falconer would also have to pass their own Opt Out local law, in order to disallow marijuana dispensaries from operating in their respective jurisdictions.

Clymer is another township in Chautauqua County that has decided to ‘opt out’ of allowing marijuana dispensaries from opening. But officials made that decision in Mid-June, meaning the 45-day window to file for a permissive referendum has already passed.

Under the marijuana legalization law, municipalities must decide before the end of the year whether to opt-out of allowing dispensaries or on-site consumption establishments. If the village votes to opt-out, a public referendum must then be scheduled on the issue this year as well.

The regular board meeting starts at 6:30pm with the public hearing taking place at 6:45pm.

Jamestown City Council

The staff report filed by Corporation Counsel Elliot Raimondo states that with the legalization of cannabis in New York State, the city is looking at changing drug screen panels. Employees with a CDL license would still be screened for marijuana as it is a federal requirements under the Department of Transportation.

The City’s drug and alcohol policy would still not permit city employees to work when under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The change in policy does not require any action by City Council.

City Council also will hear a report on the re-opening of Housing Court as well as the end of the housing eviction moratorium. Additionally, the Public Safety Committee is expected to further discuss the Los Contrincantes Car Club event that’s scheduled for Saturday, September 18th at Bergman Park. Concerns had been raised at an earlier work session over possible noise issues at the event.

City Council committee meetings begin at 6:45pm with the full work session at 7:30pm in the third floor conference room of City Hall.

This website educates the public on the OCM’s regulatory structure which, with the Cannabis Control Board, will oversee the licensure, cultivation, production, distribution, sale and taxation of medical, adult-use and cannabinoid hemp within New York State.

The website also provides resources for individuals seeking medical cannabis practitioners, caregivers and medical cannabis IDs as well as businesses seeking licensure to participate in adult-use, medical and cannabinoid hemp industries.

While the state works on setting up its cannabis management program, local officials are continuing to react to the legalization of Marijuana, which went into effect last week.

County Executive PJ Wendel said he’s still interested in seeing the final numbers when it comes to the boost in state revenue, which he adds, wont’ be nearly enough to close a large state budget gap.

“There’s so many questions and I’m not an expert. We need to let those question play out and get answered and then move forward. But the point is it should not be sold that we’re going to have $350 million in new state revenue. But even if that was true, we still have a $6 billion deficit, so that’s not even a drop in the bucket. So again, there are a lot of questions to that,” Wendel said during his recent interview on WRFA.

In addition to the additional revenue for local and state coffers, legalization also has the potential to create 30,000 to 60,000 new jobs across the State.