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A Cortland County official is concerned about a lack of regulation in the cannabis space as retailers start applying for licenses in central New York.
“We still have no regulation for the types of scales and methods of sales for cannabis in regards to weights and measures,” said director of weights and measures Wes Foley at the Cortland County Legislature Government Operations Committee meeting last month.
Foley used agricultural production as an example of a sale that is regulated by weights and measures.
“A berry farmer has to have a certified scale. I have to go check on their equipment and their sales and I charge them for that service,” he said. “Here we have cannabis that can be up to $6,400 a pound and there is no regulation. That is totally absurd.”
Foley said he has been asking state officials for regulations on cannabis weights and measures for longer than a year.
“I asked the state weights and measures how this would affect us. They said they had not been contacted by the Office of Cannabis Management and we have since been told not to enforce our regulations at cannabis establishments,” he said.
According to Foley,“New York State notes, in terms of regulation scales and weighing devices, all commercially-used weights, weighing devices and accessories shall be inspected and tested for accuracy at least once a year.’
“This regulation does not have any exemptions for any certain commodities,” Foley added.
Foley expressed the need for uniform regulations on cannabis across the state.
“Municipal weights and measures are more than capable of testing cannabis scales,” he said. “A simple memorandum from Albany, even if temporary until NIST completes recommendations would be helpful.”
LegislativeMajority Leader George Wagner (R-LD-15) blasted the state’s Office of Cannabis Management.
“New York state knew this was coming and was still unprepared for it,” he noted.
Foley said a lack of state regulations will also hurt retailers in the end.
“What I foresee happening in our county is that someone is going to open a dispensary and then the state is going to come out with a ruling on this,” he said. “Then I am going to have to go to them and tell them the scale they spent $500 on is not appropriate and they are going to have to buy another scale.”
