Nearly a year after Canadian investment firm RIV Capital acquired New York-based medical cannabis provider Etain for $247 million, new regulations will allow the company to enter the state’s budding adult-use market sooner than anticipated.
New York’s Cannabis Control Board and Office of Cannabis Management released new adult-use cannabis draft regulations on Thursday, including a significantly shortened waiting period for medical cannabis providers, dubbed “registered organizations” in the state’s lingo, to enter the recreational market. The revision scraps an initial three-year waiting period and allows for registered organizations to open one co-located medical and adult-use dispensary by the end of the year, followed by second and third stores after June 29, 2024.
“Obviously, a three-year ban was significant, and getting down to one year for our first store is great,” said Mike Totzke, chief operating officer and interim CEO of RIV Capital. “We’re confident in our ability to open up our first adult-use store at the end of this year in December, and then we’re working on plans for our next two at the end of June of next year.”
RIV Capital closed on its purchase of Etain in December, giving it one of 10 vertically integrated cannabis licenses in New York that allow the company to grow, manufacture and sell its own adult-use cannabis products. Prior to the acquisition, the Westchester County brand was the only woman-owned private cannabis company in the state.
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