The NY Cannabis Agency has officially – and erroneously – charged local businesses with illegal marijuana sales.

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The cannabis administration office has been falsely accusing the company of engaging in “cannabis sales” for decades, and the agency is unwilling to accept or respond to the error.

Itaka-based LakeWatch Inn, which manages and has been calling OCM for the past six days, has said it will not sell Lake Watch cannabis and will not contact anyone “I am a small business” selling cannabis.

“They don’t want to hear anything,” she said. “I still have to contact the supervisor or any executive member.”

After OCM terminated 66 letters and sent letters months ago, LakeWatch’s name surfaced in more than a dozen news outlets last week – LakeWatch is on the list. The agency said the letters were sent to businesses it knew were operating illegally and disrupting the legal market.

“I had to reassure two brides and two hostesses from Friday,” Reynolds told NY Cannabis Insider. “I am being accused of doing something illegal, and I have not received any response from the organization that posted me this way.

Reynolds is looking for a New York State liquor authority and is working to ensure that she does not risk losing her license.

To be clear, LakeWatch is not selling marijuana.

Social media posts, news reports, and a letter sent to OMM by Tompkins County Sheriff Friday confirm Reynolds’ claim, but the agency does not appear to be listening.

In fact, Reynolds said she didn’t know anything about the termination and the letters until we met at NY Cannabis Insider last week. OCM sent the letter to the wrong address – and did not attempt to contact Reynolds alone.

“I’m tired of the fact that this government agency did not investigate the facts,” she said.

OCM’s “investigation” is based on LakeWatch’s completely inaccurate social media posts and outdated news reports.

“This is horrible,” said Frederick Easley, director of strategic initiatives for social and economic equity and sustainable cannabis policies at The People’s Ecosystem, BIPOC Cannabis Company.

“We understand that the OSM and CCB are inclusive and people make mistakes,” said Isley, chair of the Social Equality Committee of the New York City and Hudson Valley Cannabis Industry Association.

“But when those mistakes are made, it should be polite and there should be a plan to correct the mistakes – and this is one of the mistakes that needs to be corrected.”

Frederick Isley is the co-chair of The People’s Ecosystem and the co-chair of the Strategic Initiatives for the Social Justice Committee of the New York City and Hudson Valley Cannabis Industry Association. She also serves on the Federal Cannabis Regulation DEI Committee.

NYC Cannabis Insider On Monday, OCM sent out a list of inquiries into its investigation into LakeWatch. How did the agency conduct all investigations? OCM now believes there was a mistake in naming LakeWatch and plans to rectify the situation anyway?

OCM did not answer any questions.

Instead, the spokesperson sent a brief statement: “We truly thank all the recipients of these letters who have stopped participating in unlicensed cannabis sales. OCM’s goal is to discourage any unlicensed cannabis sales and thank you for your cooperation.

What really happened

Reynolds said in December it was hosting a “informative meeting” to let people know about drug and recreational cannabis use. She asked if there were any cannabis samples or sales at the event, and she confirmed that they were not.

Reynolds said: “What I forgot was that you could buy a sticker, and then it could be a rescue, or a talented, productive product – and that was the purpose of this team.”

“As soon as this was brought to me by the Tompkins County Sheriff and the district attorney, we cut off contact with them,” she told me.

A FebruaryW LakeWatch Facebook post supports this, with Reynolds writing, “Contrary to what is still expanding, we will not co-operate with the 2.26.22 Cannabis Expo. There were a number of licensing issues that were addressed to us to make this an event we could not participate in.

The market was finally held at the Cherry Arts venue in Itaka – a recipient of government funding.

That was the end of the ordeal – until last week, when Reynolds learned from NY Cannabis Insider that she was involved in the OCM Stop and Stop campaign.

Since then, she has made several phone calls to OCM and has spoken to several customer service representatives. Tompkins County Sheriff Derek Osborne sent a letter on behalf of OMM Reynolds, saying, “LakeWatch Inn is a sustainable and respected business in our community and I have no risk of error.

To date, Reynolds has not received a call from the OCM Supervisor or acknowledged the agency’s error.

“When this kind of thing is published, and when I get involved with businesses that do something illegal, I gossip, I get customers to call me and I suggest they don’t do business. I am, ”said Reynolds.

“Then the failure of the Tax and Finance and State Alcohol Authority is coming down to me.

The big issue

In a press statement last Thursday, the OCM leadership stated that the letters were written for businesses that describe them as legal cannabis distributors and as a reason to monitor health, safety and tax revenues as institutions.

However, there are experts who are concerned that the strategy may not be the right one.

David Holland is a partner of Prince Lobel and Tie Law Company based in Massachusetts and New York and executive and legal director of Empire State NORML. He told NY Cannabis Insider that OCM’s operation was not waterproof.

“These illegal sales do not pose a greater public health risk than those permitted by the MRTA and the Penal Code,” Holland said.

“In addition, it is not clear how such uncontrolled cannabis sales will weaken the legal market that has not yet begun. As long as there are hidden illegal sales, many of these gray market operators are paying local and state sales tax on their goods and services.”

“So the perceived damage seems to be less obvious in the best of circumstances.”

Isley, who serves on the Federal Cannabis Regulation DEI Committee, also agrees and calls for implementation.

“If the first priority is to protect New York residents from known dangers and strengthen the growing legal market, then is the stick-to-table approach appropriate to decision-making and abandonment?” She told NY Cannabis Insider. “Is fear and the threat of punishment going away?”

She continued:

“The goal is to reduce the barriers to the process and financial access and perhaps to successfully integrate heritage and gray market operators into the control industry by providing ongoing support to social equity and / or small business owners,” she said.

“Adjusted market growth and sustainability depend on it.”