ROCESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — A recent illegal cannabis bust in Greece is putting renewed attention on how unlicensed marijuana sales can affect consumers and New York businesses trying to operate within the state’s regulated market.
For legal dispensary owners, the concern goes beyond competition. They say products sold outside the regulated system may not undergo the same testing or follow the same rules governing potency, sourcing and sales.
“As far as the illegal products, it’s always a concern,” said Ryan Martin, owner of MJ Dispensary.
New York’s recreational cannabis industry remains relatively young, with licensed businesses required to navigate state regulations, paperwork and rules governing where their products come from.
Martin said operators selling cannabis illegally are avoiding those requirements, potentially putting customers at risk.
“I don’t feel sorry for people now who are getting in trouble because, you know, the writing’s on the wall of where this is going,” Martin said. “And, you know, the stuff that they’re putting out there is untested. You know, the milligrams are outrageous.”
Martin said the recent bust in Greece was particularly concerning because of the potential for unregulated products to reach children or inexperienced cannabis users.
“It’s very scary on the other end, you know, when you see this kind of stuff coming out and children being able to have access to them kind of products or, like, novice people who’ve never tried it,” Martin said. “They could wake up the next morning not knowing what happened.”
The town of Greece opted out in 2021 of allowing licensed adult-use cannabis dispensaries to operate within the town.
Attorney Cory Missell, senior counsel with Tully Rinckey PLLC, said cases involving illegal cannabis sales could ultimately influence how the state regulates the industry and how licensed dispensaries conduct business.
“It could change the way both New York state regulates these dispensaries and how the dispensaries choose to operate moving forward,” Missell said. “This is all part of the decisions that they have to make as a business in terms of where they source their products.”
For Martin, continued enforcement against illegal sellers is also about protecting the legal market that licensed operators have invested in building.
“You never know what could happen to somebody if they took, you know, those products,” Martin said. “So, I just want the state, city, the police departments to continue to keep doing this so that, you know, our market can continue growing the proper way.”
