KENMORE, N.Y. — Last year, about 300 cannabis growers got their license in New York State.
And now in the second growing season, there are only a few places actually selling the product.
"There's only 23 dispensaries open, legal dispensaries open," said Joann Kudrewicz, a grower from the Catskill Mountains and the chair for the Cultivation Committee for the Cannabis Association of New York. "We have these very few outlets and a lot of weed."
"The rollout for those dispensaries opening has been rather slow. We anticipated there would be a couple of hundred at least by this time which would've given us all the outlet to sell the product to the consumer."
To make matters worse, recently, a judge ruled in a lawsuit filed against the NYS Office of Cannabis Management that no more dispensaries can open for the time being.
So now the Office of Cannabis Management is allowing growers to fill out an application for a growers showcase and if approved, can make back some of their investment.
New York State is the first state to do so, and on Friday, the first showcase Erie County kicked off after Bison Botanics got approved to host it.
"The concept essentially was as a processor, we could host a licensed dispensary with a couple point of sales systems along with three or more cultivators or farmers that grow cannabis," said David Sanna with Bison Botanics.
Dank 716 is the dispensary working with them.
The showcase will be open through the rest of the year, every day except Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
"It's really important to us to be able to have a place where we can sell our product so we can make some revenue and continue operating," Kudrewicz said. "Right now this cannabis showcase model is approved through the end of this year. We're extremely hopeful that given these are working very successfully, health and safety and compliance are all being handled in a responsible manner, and also that cultivators who don't have opportunities are selling product, we're hopeful the state will allow this to continue beyond this year."