The city administration is actively working with local cannabis industry businesses to make the industry successful in the Jamestown region.

Stephanie Wright from the city’s Development Office has been helping lead the “Grow Jamestown Initiative” to review potential businesses interested in the cannabis industry and determine what the city can do to help the businesses thrive. Mayor Eddie Sundquist said Wright has been instrumental in the city’s conversations with the Office of Cannabis Management as well as the Cannabis Control Board.

Wright explained that local businesses have been working hard to finalize preparations for the cannabis industry before the state begins licensing businesses across the state.

Sundquist said that while the state has moved “slower” than the city had expected regarding the provision of regulations for cultivation, growing, production and dispensary businesses, the city has been working with local businesses in preparation for the industry’s launch in Jamestown.

“The city is just in a weird, unique place where we’re not an applicant to anything, so we can talk to everyone and also help inform the industry, which has been a positive thing,” Sundquist said. “It’s been quite a process, but overall, we’ve now seen regulations that have come through. They’re in a comment period, currently.”

According to Sundquist, the state’s comment period will run until February, after which, the state will make adjustments. Following the adjustments, the state will open a smaller comment period for additional regulation changes prior to the full launch of the industry.

Sundquist also explained that the state legislature is currently in the process of modifying the original marijuana regulation and taxation act through additional legislative bills.

“They’re kind of waiting to see what is going to go on with those bills as well,” he said. “There’s a bunch on the governor’s desk she hasn’t signed; there’s also a bunch that are currently sitting to go through the process of the legislature.”

Sundquist said the sooner the state “rolls out” the finalized regulations and licenses for the cannabis industry, the sooner businesses will be able to thrive. Sundquist explained that the city has large scale manufacturers that are interested in renovating factory buildings in the future, as well as small micro growers that have received “conditional licenses.”

At present, Sundquist said his administration has been focusing on the ancillary businesses since the industry has a “lot of uncertainty” regarding ancillary businesses. As an example of an ancillary business, Sundquist said the state will require every product to be tested. According to Sundquist, the state has not licensed any testing sites except those that test medical marijuana.

Wright said the medical marijuana testing sites will eventually be approved by the state for a complete cannabis testing license. However, Sundquist said that “only a couple” medical marijuana testing sites are currently authorized in the state, providing a “bit of a challenge” for the industry. In the meantime, Sundquist said the city is considering the industry’s need for banking, testing, packaging, insurance, transportation and a variety of other aspects.

Wright said the city is also trying to prepare for the “unknown” variables in the cannabis industry.

“No one really knows what they’re going to need as far as product until we really start moving,” she said. “Then we’re going to discover how beneficial these ancillary businesses are going to be to us, especially the packaging.”

Based on conversations with businesses in the cannabis industry, Sundquist said that other cities have not provided the same level of support that Jamestown has offered to businesses interested in joining the cannabis industry. He said the city is committed to ensuring that local businesses have “solid” business plans prior to the state’s licensing of businesses. As part of the preparatory work, Sundquist said the city is looking at “pre-permitting” local businesses.

“The cannabis business, now legalized, is like any other economic development activity in the city,” Sundquist said. “As we help with manufacturers that are growing or expanding their business, we’re doing the same thing with our cannabis operations. One of the reasons why we have been fairly successful in attracting people to Jamestown is because we’re treating this just like any other operation.”

The economic development portion of the cannabis industry is something Sundquist believes will be beneficial for the Jamestown community. In addition to providing “huge assistance” for the city through sales tax revenue, Sundquist said the industry will result in high paying, quality jobs in Jamestown.

“The city is poised to become an innovation center for cannabis,” he said. “We have been working hard to put all the pieces together to use this area as a place where growers, cultivators and producers can come here to learn the ways that we’re doing things.”

Sundquist said the city has also been working with Jamestown Community College as part of a statewide grant the college received for workforce development in the cannabis industry.

While the city administration has a positive view of the cannabis industry, both Wright and Sundquist acknowledged the potential for problems and the importance of the state working to address potential issues.

“I think the state is well aware that there could be problems, and I think they’re well equipped to help us deal with those,” Wright said. “Whether it’s the black market, education on everything cannabis, any kind of drug use or abuse, I know that’s a very strong component of theirs. I think as long as we stay on the positive side of this and keep pressing that forward, we’re not going to see those kinds of problems.”

Additionally, Sundquist said the city has seen a problem with the unlicensed sale of cannabis in Jamestown prior to the state approving licenses. Nevertheless, Sundquist said the city has been effective at shutting down unlicensed operations.

“We’ve certainly pushed the state to provide a stronger enforcement,” he said. “We want to just make sure that folks that are selling cannabis or providing or growing it are doing so legally and safely in our community.”

While Sundquist wants the state to enforce licensing requirements, he also expressed concern regarding the state’s potential to overregulate the cannabis industry. Sundquist said the state has a “unique opportunity” to learn from other states that have already legalized the cannabis industry. Rather than overregulating the market, Sundquist hopes the state will allow the market to adequately work out potential issues while providing a healthy level of regulation.

Wright added that there is also a “balancing act” required in the cannabis industry between large scale companies and local small businesses. While Wright emphasized the importance of allowing smaller operations to thrive in the Jamestown area, she said it is also important to have large scale businesses involved in the industry.

“I really want this to be a craft industry of micro growers around here,” she said. “I’m sensitive to that, but I do understand the importance of having at least one or two of these really good scale growers for the revenue.”

Highlighting Jamestown’s commitment to helping businesses thrive, Sundquist explained the city has been “on the cutting edge” of the cannabis industry throughout the entire process with the state. He said the city is excited to watch the businesses open up and “flourish” in the community.

“I’m convinced that Jamestown will be a big player in the industry, and we’ll probably start at some point shipping out most of the product to the rest of New York State,” he said. “We’re pretty confident of that, and we’re excited to see it.”