Hi, Brian Lehrer here. Up next, Brian Lehrer Weekend, three of our favorite segments from the week packaged together for you to listen to on the weekend.

So enjoy, and I'll see you back on the radio Monday at 10 a.m. on WNYC and WNYC.org.

Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and as you probably know, New York State legalized recreational cannabis sales back in March of 2021.

But so far, there are only about 12 above-board shops that are open statewide.

Who does this hurt? Farmers, who in some cases are sitting on thousands of pounds of legal cannabis that they can't sell to retailers.

So one solution that's currently being floated would allow growers to sell cannabis at farmers markets, maybe even some events like music events too.

It's still all in the early stages, but joining us now to discuss how the state plans to remedy what some are seeing as a slow rollout of legal weed, including how it'll manage a crackdown of unregulated shops, is none other than Chris Alexander, the inaugural executive director of the New York State Office of Cannabis Management.

Director Alexander, thanks for joining us. Welcome back to WNYC.

Thanks for having me.

And listeners, wondering if we have any cannabis growers out there? Are you sitting on product and worried about where you're going to offload it?

And if you're going to have to take losses for what the state told you, you could now legally grow 2-1-2-4-3-3-WNYC, 2-1-2-4-3-3-9-6-9-2.

Any licensed shop owners out there who don't have open storefronts yet, what would you like to share about the rollout? Have you tried getting a above-board but haven't been approved yet?

That's another group that could call in, 2-1-2-4-3-3-WNYC for anybody connected to this, 2-1-2-4-3-3-9-6-9-2.

So, Director Alexander, the rules for farmer's market sales as being drawn up here.

What one of your colleagues has called the New York cannabis growers showcase or not said in stone, I see, but can you briefly describe the vision here to start out?

Yeah, I mean, I'd like to take a couple of steps back and just kind of take a proper analysis of the issue here.

Sure.

It's definitely spot on the slow rollout of dispensary component of supply chain has definitely led to some issues up the chain.

And when we started this exercise about 18 months ago, and really a year ago, given our farmers the opportunity to grow and be the first operators in the adult use market, the intent was to make sure that they were able to build lasting sustainable businesses, and in many cases save their family farms.

And so, we've tried to and continue to remain flexible and create creative solutions to problems that are coming up in this nascent industry.

And I think the concept of the farmer's market came from the farmers themselves who are really creative and really committed to the success of the broader program is something that really has some challenges and there's quite a bit to work through there.

So, it's not at all a final program, but it's representative of the fact that we at the Office of Cannabis Management, we at the state and the government have a true commitment to making sure that the farmers who are the backbone of this program are successful.

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