Graphic by Julia Meyer
In the two years since adult-use cannabis sales became legal in New York, the industry has evolved rapidly through a carefully structured rollout. Despite challenges, a dynamic and competitive marketplace is emerging. Published in June 2025, the 2024 Market Report from the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) highlights the milestones and growing pains of a state still committed to an ambitious, equity-centered vision for legalization. By documenting the nuances of a young but growing industry with over $1 billion in sales, 2,000+ active licenses, and a strengthening regulatory backbone, the report reveals both promising momentum and persistent obstacles for legal operators.
The Market for Cannabis
New York’s legal adult use cannabis market has generated more than $1 billion thus far. There was approximately $869 million in sales in 2024. Sales trended upward throughout the year, reflecting increased consumer education, supply, and demand. Though the industry’s rollout experienced turbulence, including courtroom delays and local opt outs, the pace of growth is picking up. By April 2025, 363 adult-use dispensaries were operational, up from the 260 at the end of 2024.
Social and Economic Equity (SEE) applicants represent 81% of retail dispensaries licensees and 58% of microbusiness licensees. Though access to financing remains problematic, this represents real progress toward the state’s goal of broad, equitable access.
Still, significant disparities in access to cannabis persist. For example, 58% of reported retail sales are concentrated in New York City, while large swaths of upstate counties remain without legal access. In Long Island, local opt-outs enable the flourishing of illegal dispensaries. It is clear from the report that there are many regions with very few or no legal retailers, which is one of the OCM’s chief concerns.
Consumer Trends: Price Sensitivity and Product Preferences
As New York’s retail network expanded, so did the product landscape. By the end of 2024, over 500 cannabis brands had entered the New York market. These brands collectively offered a wide array of products including flower, edibles, tinctures, vaporizer cartridges, beverages, and concentrates. Approximately two-thirds of these brands focused on just one or two product categories, reflecting targeted business models and consumer segmentation.
Flower was the most popular category, comprising 33% of sales. The state’s inventory system recorded more than 1,500 unique cannabis strains in 2024. Notably, no single strain accounted for more than 2% of total market share. This indicated a highly diverse consumer marketplace with no dominant cultivars. Sour Diesel, Blue Dream, and OG Kush are amongst the three most popular strains.
There are over 500 cannabis brands currently sold in New York. New York’s top five selling brands—Dank, Ayrloom, Jaunty, Off Hours, and MFNY—account for 21% of sales. New York’s top 20 brands take home 46% of all sales. The top 200 brands take virtually all of New York’s legal sales.
Equity in Implementation
New York’s cannabis law, the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA), places equity at the core of the regulatory framework. The state made historic commitments to SEE applications, and 2024 outcomes clearly reflected these. By the end of the year, officials awarded over 80% of adult-use dispensary licenses to SEE applicants. In practice, this meant that a majority of operating retailers were owned by individuals from communities disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition.
The Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) program served as the first major equity-focused licensing effort. Though litigation delayed it by months, by the end of 2024, CAURD licensees operated more than 70% of the 260 open dispensaries.
Additionally, officials awarded 54.1% of microbusiness licenses to SEE applicants. Microbusinesses offer licensees the opportunity to cultivate, process, distribute, and sell their own cannabis. Ultimately, this helps smaller operators remain viable in a competitive environment.
Municipal Opt-Outs: A Lingering Barrier
One of the most persistent impediments to retail expansion has been municipal opt-outs. This is particularly true on Long Island, where the requests for entering the market outstrip the number of open dispensaries. The OCM is committed to showing that the cannabis industry is and can be part of any local New York economy. Its members believe these opt outs are reducing potential local tax revenue which municipalities can use for any purpose. Opt outs also enable illegal entities that pay no taxes.
Education and Enforcement: Dual Tools for Market Stability
The report underscores the OCM’s two-pronged approach to market stabilization: education and enforcement. As for education, the agency has launched several education campaigns to instruct customers on the effects of legal products. It notes that new customers often don’t know the difference between sativa, indica, and hybrid strains, and that it is up to legal sellers and educators to tell people about them. With so many strains in existence today, it is difficult for consumers to know what to purchase and understand the effects of each product.
Illicit Market Still a Major Threat
New York’s unregulated cannabis market continues to undercut legal operators. Despite padlocking 1,500 unlicensed dispensaries in 2024, the OCM estimates there are thousands of unlicensed storefronts in New York City alone. These unlicensed retailers outnumber legal dispensaries. The OCM notes that the legal cannabis industry only has captured about one-fifth of the total addressable New York market.
Officials have ramped up enforcement efforts. But the report suggests that without stronger municipal coordination and faster license rollouts, illicit competition will remain a structural challenge.
The OCM notes that federal law will shape things either for good or for ill. Rescheduling cannabis to a schedule III drug might even allow insurance to pay for medical cannabis among other benefits.
A Market at the Crossroads
The year 2024 marked a turning point for New York’s cannabis industry. What began as a cautious rollout evolved into a diverse and highly active marketplace. With dispensaries opening weekly, hundreds of brands in circulation, and a regulatory framework emphasizing equity, the foundation has been laid for long-term stability and growth.
However, the market is not without challenges. Addressing supply chain imbalances, maintaining enforcement momentum, and ensuring ongoing support for equity licensees will all be essential priorities moving forward.
If 2024 was the year of establishment, 2025 will be the year of refinement. New York’s cannabis industry is no longer a fledgling policy experiment. It is a functioning, regulated market with the potential to serve as a national model for inclusive and sustainable legalization.
Panic if it’s not outdoor organic.