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Albany - Lobbyists in New York State are anticipating a surge in business from the legalization of medical marijuana, as dozens of companies hire firms to help them vie for five available state licenses to manufacture the drug.
Estimates are that hundreds of firms may apply to become one of five manufacturers of the drug under the state's new program, which was enacted this summer and is expected to be up and running by next January.
The program will be small and tightly regulated, but lobbyists told Capital they don't expect that to be a deterrent to companies hoping to break into the market. And the monetary threshold applicants must clear to apply is low–anyone applying for a license has to pay just $10,000 in fees.
The new law is expected to prove so lucrative for the lobbying industry in Albany that one insider called it the "Lobbyist Employment Act of 2015."
Companies still face huge hurdles in their fight to secure licenses.
Manufacturers most likely to succeed must demonstrate they've thought out every detail of their production plan, from security, to support from local lawmakers, to plans for how they'll transport the plants from manufacturers to dispensaries.
"These applications are going to have to be very comprehensive in their approach to address all the requirements," said Patrick McCarthy, a lobbyist for Mercury Public Affairs, which represents multiple medical marijuana interests including biopharmaceutical company KannaLife Sciences, Inc.
Applicants will also have to educate local lawmakers and residents in areas of the state that might harbor bias against having a marijuana manufacturer in their community.
"This is not just a traditional lobbying approach. Teams are going to have to be put together," McCarthy said. "You really have to know what part of the state is potentially going to be more receptive. You have to know local politics."
New York's law, unlike medical marijuana laws in other states, requires companies to hire union workers for their dispensaries and production facilities.
Ed Draves, a lobbyist at Bolton St. Johns who represents the United Food & Commercial Workers union, said he has spoken with more than a dozen companies interested in procuring a medical marijuana license that are seeking his help in reaching agreements with labor unions. UFCW's local affiliate is the 20,000-member Local 338 of the Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Workers' Union.
Lobbying records show dozens of companies–some established cannabis growers and others new to the field–have already hired firms to represent them in their effort to grow marijuana in New York state.
Some of the most lucrative contracts belong to Park Strategies, the lobbying firm run by former U.S. senator Al D'Amato.
D'Amato, a Republican who for years opposed medical marijuana, came out in support of the drug for medicinal purposes in an op-ed published last February in the Long Island Herald.
"I know it's a tough pill to swallow, and if you asked me five years ago if I would ever consider supporting legalizing medical marijuana, I would've said, 'Not a chance,'" D'Amato wrote. "But times are changing and marijuana has become a viable form of alternative medicine for those suffering from many debilitating diseases such as ALS, multiple sclerosis, cancer and others. When traditional medicines fail to offer relief, why not give patients alternatives?"
The op-ed came shortly after Park Strategies signed $15,000-a-month lobbying deals with two firms operated by Richard Yost, a businessman who is active in the recreational marijuana industry in Colorado and other states.
Yost operates Ideal 420 Soil, which sells soil and other products to marijuana growers and which sponsored a series of concerts by the Colorado Symphony orchestra last summer featuring pot-friendly music. (Colorado legalized recreational marijuana use last year.)
In New York, Yost is involved with two companies–Ideal 420 Technologies LLC, and Nanoponics LLC.
A spokeswoman for D'Amato did not respond Monday to a request for comment.
D'Amato isn't the only former lawmaker getting involved in the marijuana business.
Former Republican Assemblyman Steve Katz, the veterinarian caught speeding and smoking pot by a state trooper on the New York State Thruway in 2012, told reporters in 2013 he intended to invest $10 million in marijuana.
And lobbying records show a company called Lewiston Greenhouse LLC is paying G. Steve Pigeon, the former Erie County Democratic chairman, Pedro Espada advisor and 2009 Senate coup interloper, for his help in the company's quest to obtain a medical marijuana license, lobbying records show. The company began paying Pigeon, who is president of a firm called PAPI Consulting LLC, $25,000 a month beginning in November.
Lewiston Greenhouse, records show, is "engaged in the business of marketing a state-of-the-art greenhouse and processing building located in Lewiston, New York, and identifying alternative agricultural uses for, and potential tenants of, the facility."
Other national marijuana players are getting in on the action as well.
One of the best-known medical marijuana companies is a private equity firm called Privateer Holdings Inc., a Seattle company that invests in medical cannabis and has plans to create a Bob Marley-branded strain of the drug.
In August, the company signed a $10,000-a-month contract with James F. Capalino & Associates, another lobbying firm.
A company called MJ Freeway, which offers "industry-leading software and professional services" and touts itself as "your solution to run a successful cannabis business," promises on its website to help cannabis growers "meet or exceed any state or federal requirement for tracking cannabis with a clear chain of custody."
In mid-November, MJ Freeway signed a $2,000-a-month agreement with the Vandervort Group, an Albany-based lobbying firm.
In New York, Great Lakes Medicinals, based in Webster, signed an $8,000-a-month contract with the law firm Harter Secrest & Emery LLP in July to lobby "on behalf of GLM regarding its attempt to receive whatever designation or license from the state is necessary to allow GLM to legally grow, manufacture, and dispense medical marijuana in New York under New York law."
Sea Cliff-based PalliaTech Inc., a marijuana manufacturer, signed a $4,500-a-month contract with Faist Government Affairs Group for lobbying on medical marijuana last year, a contract that extended through December 31, 2014.
And Fioria Franco LLC, based in Clarence, signed a contract with Masiello, Martucci, Calabrese & Associates to research and analyze the Compassionate Care Act, and provide the company with information about which state agencies will regulate the production and sale of medical marijuana and how.
Draves, the UFCW lobbyist, said companies are keen to get in on the ground floor of a nascent industry in New York.
"We know that there's going to be five grow licenses. We know there's going to be 20 dispensaries but beyond that how the industry is going to develop in New York is still really at the beginning stage," Draves said.
"Medical marijuana, what you're really developing is a brand new pharmaceutical industry in your state. And that's pretty exciting," Draves said. Because federal laws still prohibit transporting the drug across state lines, manufacturers in New York have an essentially captive audience for their products.
"You have the unique ability to create an industry within your state," Draves said. "It's very rare."
News Moderator: 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Lobbyists prepare for medical marijuana boomlet | Capital New York
Author: Laura Nahmias
Contact: Contact Us | Capital New York
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: Capital New York | Politics, Media News
Estimates are that hundreds of firms may apply to become one of five manufacturers of the drug under the state's new program, which was enacted this summer and is expected to be up and running by next January.
The program will be small and tightly regulated, but lobbyists told Capital they don't expect that to be a deterrent to companies hoping to break into the market. And the monetary threshold applicants must clear to apply is low–anyone applying for a license has to pay just $10,000 in fees.
The new law is expected to prove so lucrative for the lobbying industry in Albany that one insider called it the "Lobbyist Employment Act of 2015."
Companies still face huge hurdles in their fight to secure licenses.
Manufacturers most likely to succeed must demonstrate they've thought out every detail of their production plan, from security, to support from local lawmakers, to plans for how they'll transport the plants from manufacturers to dispensaries.
"These applications are going to have to be very comprehensive in their approach to address all the requirements," said Patrick McCarthy, a lobbyist for Mercury Public Affairs, which represents multiple medical marijuana interests including biopharmaceutical company KannaLife Sciences, Inc.
Applicants will also have to educate local lawmakers and residents in areas of the state that might harbor bias against having a marijuana manufacturer in their community.
"This is not just a traditional lobbying approach. Teams are going to have to be put together," McCarthy said. "You really have to know what part of the state is potentially going to be more receptive. You have to know local politics."
New York's law, unlike medical marijuana laws in other states, requires companies to hire union workers for their dispensaries and production facilities.
Ed Draves, a lobbyist at Bolton St. Johns who represents the United Food & Commercial Workers union, said he has spoken with more than a dozen companies interested in procuring a medical marijuana license that are seeking his help in reaching agreements with labor unions. UFCW's local affiliate is the 20,000-member Local 338 of the Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Workers' Union.
Lobbying records show dozens of companies–some established cannabis growers and others new to the field–have already hired firms to represent them in their effort to grow marijuana in New York state.
Some of the most lucrative contracts belong to Park Strategies, the lobbying firm run by former U.S. senator Al D'Amato.
D'Amato, a Republican who for years opposed medical marijuana, came out in support of the drug for medicinal purposes in an op-ed published last February in the Long Island Herald.
"I know it's a tough pill to swallow, and if you asked me five years ago if I would ever consider supporting legalizing medical marijuana, I would've said, 'Not a chance,'" D'Amato wrote. "But times are changing and marijuana has become a viable form of alternative medicine for those suffering from many debilitating diseases such as ALS, multiple sclerosis, cancer and others. When traditional medicines fail to offer relief, why not give patients alternatives?"
The op-ed came shortly after Park Strategies signed $15,000-a-month lobbying deals with two firms operated by Richard Yost, a businessman who is active in the recreational marijuana industry in Colorado and other states.
Yost operates Ideal 420 Soil, which sells soil and other products to marijuana growers and which sponsored a series of concerts by the Colorado Symphony orchestra last summer featuring pot-friendly music. (Colorado legalized recreational marijuana use last year.)
In New York, Yost is involved with two companies–Ideal 420 Technologies LLC, and Nanoponics LLC.
A spokeswoman for D'Amato did not respond Monday to a request for comment.
D'Amato isn't the only former lawmaker getting involved in the marijuana business.
Former Republican Assemblyman Steve Katz, the veterinarian caught speeding and smoking pot by a state trooper on the New York State Thruway in 2012, told reporters in 2013 he intended to invest $10 million in marijuana.
And lobbying records show a company called Lewiston Greenhouse LLC is paying G. Steve Pigeon, the former Erie County Democratic chairman, Pedro Espada advisor and 2009 Senate coup interloper, for his help in the company's quest to obtain a medical marijuana license, lobbying records show. The company began paying Pigeon, who is president of a firm called PAPI Consulting LLC, $25,000 a month beginning in November.
Lewiston Greenhouse, records show, is "engaged in the business of marketing a state-of-the-art greenhouse and processing building located in Lewiston, New York, and identifying alternative agricultural uses for, and potential tenants of, the facility."
Other national marijuana players are getting in on the action as well.
One of the best-known medical marijuana companies is a private equity firm called Privateer Holdings Inc., a Seattle company that invests in medical cannabis and has plans to create a Bob Marley-branded strain of the drug.
In August, the company signed a $10,000-a-month contract with James F. Capalino & Associates, another lobbying firm.
A company called MJ Freeway, which offers "industry-leading software and professional services" and touts itself as "your solution to run a successful cannabis business," promises on its website to help cannabis growers "meet or exceed any state or federal requirement for tracking cannabis with a clear chain of custody."
In mid-November, MJ Freeway signed a $2,000-a-month agreement with the Vandervort Group, an Albany-based lobbying firm.
In New York, Great Lakes Medicinals, based in Webster, signed an $8,000-a-month contract with the law firm Harter Secrest & Emery LLP in July to lobby "on behalf of GLM regarding its attempt to receive whatever designation or license from the state is necessary to allow GLM to legally grow, manufacture, and dispense medical marijuana in New York under New York law."
Sea Cliff-based PalliaTech Inc., a marijuana manufacturer, signed a $4,500-a-month contract with Faist Government Affairs Group for lobbying on medical marijuana last year, a contract that extended through December 31, 2014.
And Fioria Franco LLC, based in Clarence, signed a contract with Masiello, Martucci, Calabrese & Associates to research and analyze the Compassionate Care Act, and provide the company with information about which state agencies will regulate the production and sale of medical marijuana and how.
Draves, the UFCW lobbyist, said companies are keen to get in on the ground floor of a nascent industry in New York.
"We know that there's going to be five grow licenses. We know there's going to be 20 dispensaries but beyond that how the industry is going to develop in New York is still really at the beginning stage," Draves said.
"Medical marijuana, what you're really developing is a brand new pharmaceutical industry in your state. And that's pretty exciting," Draves said. Because federal laws still prohibit transporting the drug across state lines, manufacturers in New York have an essentially captive audience for their products.
"You have the unique ability to create an industry within your state," Draves said. "It's very rare."
News Moderator: 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Lobbyists prepare for medical marijuana boomlet | Capital New York
Author: Laura Nahmias
Contact: Contact Us | Capital New York
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: Capital New York | Politics, Media News
