An e-mail obtained by The Instances reveals that one committee chief, Consultant Sharon Wylie, a supporter of the trade, shared a draft of the invoice with a hashish lobbyist. “Thanks for being open to the compromise method,” she wrote.
In an interview, Ms. Wylie mentioned that “the jury’s nonetheless out” on the potential harms of hashish, and that regulated enterprise brings income to the state.
Ms. Davis just isn’t giving up. She plans to introduce laws to a different committee this month that will prohibit all concentrates exceeding 35 % THC, with exemptions for medical use.
“The trade wants limits,” she mentioned.
METHODOLOGY
The New York Instances examined gross sales knowledge from two hashish trade knowledge corporations, BDSA and Headset, for October 2023 to September 2024. As a result of the 2 corporations’ rankings differed considerably, The Instances checked out all manufacturers included in both agency’s top-20 listing — 24 manufacturers in complete.
Reporters then situated every model’s web page on Weedmaps, the place obtainable. 4 had been excluded, as a result of they didn’t have a presence on Weedmaps, their listings lacked product-specific descriptions or they’d only a few merchandise listed.
In November 2024, The Instances downloaded your entire Weedmaps product catalog for every of the remaining 20 manufacturers: an information set containing practically 18,000 merchandise. The Instances recognized dozens of medical- and health-related key phrases that appeared within the descriptions. For every model, reporters confirmed that the key phrases had been used to recommend that merchandise may assist deal with particular well being points.
After contacting the manufacturers for remark, The Instances once more examined Weedmaps descriptions for all merchandise within the preliminary evaluation, to determine whether or not any of the health-related language had been eliminated.
Weedmaps listings don’t essentially embrace all merchandise bought beneath a specific model and should replicate some gadgets not broadly bought.
The Instances carried out a separate evaluation of well being claims on Stiiizy’s web site, specializing in its guides to particular person hashish strains. Every information included the pressure’s flavors, purported results and circumstances it “helps with.” The Instances programmatically recognized 82 of those guides in December and January, primarily based on the web site’s sitemap, and extracted circumstances listed in every one.
Carson Kessler contributed reporting, and Julie Tate contributed analysis.