The Capital Region could soon see legal, state-regulated cannabis sales as early as next month.
Business owner Don Andrews is turning his now CBD shop, Upstate CBD, on Union Street in Schenectady into his dispensary.
He tells CBS6’s Briana Supardi that he has already received approval from the city and the Office of Cannabis Management to sell adult-use cannabis products at the location.
“I would say a timeline is about three weeks from now. We should be open next month,” said Andrews.
“We’re going to be starting our delivery service and retail storefront at the same time,” he said.
Since Andrews is already in the CBD business, he says he’s ready to stock up his shelves with adult-use cannabis products.
“We’re already working with cultivators in the hemp field so those cultivators transitioned into adult-use so we’ll still be working closely with those cultivators and carrying their products,” Andrews said.
Josh Mirsky, another dispensary license holder in the Capital Region, says he’ll be opening his shop, Stage One Dispensary, in the city of Rensselaer.
“We are very, very close with negotiations with a landlord on a lease right now, so we’ll know very shortly whether or not we will be opening within the next two weeks to a month,” said Mirsky.
He says he’s hoping to get his delivery service running by March 1st, with the goal of opening the retail store by April.
But before these adult-use products hit the shelves, they need to be tested. This week, the Office of Cannabis Management approved permits for five additional cannabis testing laboratories, including one in Albany, to do just that.
“So, our job is to make sure all of these batches of products meet the New York State required testing before they go to consumers,” said Aaron Riley, CEO and Co-Founder of Certified Testing & Data.
Certified Testing & Data is one of 13 laboratories across the state permitted to provide cannabis testing services. Out of the 13, three are in the Capital Region.
Riley says they test to make sure there are no harmful substances in the cannabis products. They also test for potency levels. He says each
“Every batch of cannabis products has to get tested,” said Riley.
He says each batch needs anywhere between seven to nine different tests.