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Fredonia Trustees Michelle Twichell and Jon Espersen find themselves divided on the village's water situation, but were in complete agreement last week that the state's rollout of legalized cannabis is a shambles.
Even Gov. Kathy Hochul admits that New York's process of licensing cannabis sellers has been full of potholes. Twichell and Espersen's comments at a village trustees' meeting suggested that Fredonians shoul d not expect a weed shop there anytime soon.
"I did attend the cannabis meeting at (the recent New York Conference of Mayors in Albany). It still seems to be a real problem with the state figuring this all out," Twichell said.
She continued, "For us to approve anyone at this time -- I might suggest we would have a local law about the cannabis ... as to where these buildings can be located. Because from what I understand, someone did buy a building but they weren't able to open up because of the distance from the school and the park, and also there was another gentleman that wanted to open up a cannabis shop, he wanted to rent a building, and that was the same reason. I think people could use some guidance when it comes to opening up a cannabis shop in Fredonia and I'd like to talk more about that later."
Espersen, who also attended the cannabis session at the mayors' conference, said, "it became very apparent that the state is way over their skis. Their regulations are continually being updated. They've got about 10% of the staff they need, there are thousands of licenses that haven't even been looked at yet. So it's going to be a long slog."
Espersen, who founded a committee to advise Fredonia on cannabis issues, added the potential cannabis licensees who bought the building have pulled out of the project because they have no faith in the state.
The state legalized marijuana possession in 2021 and opened a framework for people to get licenses for sales of the drug. The whole process was held up much of 2022 and 2023 due to lawsuits, but those got settled in November.
However, two new lawsuits against the state's rules were filed after that, putting the whole thing back into a cloud of smoke. The latest one, filed in mid-January, alleges that the cannabis licensing program is discriminatory because it seeks to prioritize minority- and women-owned businesses, along with communities heavily affected by previous prosecutions when the drug was illegal.
Meanwhile, on the nearby Seneca Nation of Indians, where the state's writ doesn't run, the cannabis business is booming. New dispensaries pop up almost every week.