Scathing Internal Report Exposes New York’s Cannabis Agency As Inexperienced, Irresponsible, Ineffective: Heads Are Rolling
An internal review released Friday revealed significant challenges, to put it nicely, plaguing New York’s legal cannabis market.
The issues are primarily attributed to inexperienced leadership within the state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM). The report was blunt, calling the OCM a “mission-driven” startup rather than a competent government office.
Governor Kathy Hochul then proceeded to fire Chris Alexander, the head of the OCM.
The report noted that the OCM was staffed with inexperienced leadership, lacked a transparent process for licensing new dispensaries and had virtually no customer service for licensees.
“The majority of OCM’s most senior leadership has relatively limited experience in leading regulatory entities, and the agency has experienced significant turnover in executive roles,” the report reads.
“It has struggled to make the transition to a mature regulatory agency,” noted the report, which was produced by …