John SchroyerBetween Aug. 28 and Sept. 4, a confidential list kept by the New York Office of Cannabis Management that records cannabis dispensaries that are more than 30 days late on debts to suppliers has grown from just two company names to 13, according to a screen shot of the list shared with Green Market Report.
The new cash on delivery, or COD, list includes both the two that had been previously reported, Smacked LLC and Royal Leaf NY LLC, but now also includes:
- Housing Works Cannabis LLC
- Urban Weeds LLC
- Athenian Royalty Group LLC
- New Metro Enterprise Inc.
- Luke Cloud Inc.
- Nickel City Green LLC
- Evija Artworks LLC
- Michael D Gant
- Boxing Express LLC
- Two Buds Enterprise Inc.
- The Higher Company LLC
All of the 13 are Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) permit holders, which were reserved for “justice-involved” license applicants that had some sort of criminal marijuana record. At least one of the companies on the list, Housing Works, is a nonprofit. That store was also the very first recreational marijuana shop to open in New York, on Dec. 29, 2022.
Any company named on the COD list is prohibited from purchasing cannabis inventory on credit until their bills are paid up and their name is removed from the list, which is intended to safeguard the financial health of the legal marijuana supply chain.
The updated COD list, shared with Green Market Report by attorney and consultant Dalton Battin, should be “taken with a grain of salt” and not as conclusive proof that any retailer on it is a “bad actor.”
“I don’t think if someone pops up on it that they’re necessarily a bad actor. They may just be having a cash flow problem that week,” Battin said, adding that the list is quite fluid and that it’s common for retailers to appear one week and vanish the next once bills are settled.
Housing Works’ Retail Director Sasha Nutgent said in an emailed statement on Friday that the nonprofit’s name was only on the recent COD list due to an “unfortunate miscommunication” with one of its suppliers.
“Our email address on file with one of our vendor’s AP processors was logged incorrectly resulting in our AP team never receiving the invoice. We were able to successfully clear our balance the moment we saw our name on the list,” Nutgent said.
“Our record of payment to our vendors, as well as our relationships with them thus far has been positive, and we look forward to having our name taken off the list in the coming days.”
An effective tactic?
Battin said he’s skeptical as to how effective having the COD list actually is, because he said there are plenty of companies behind on their bills whose names haven’t shown up on the list. Rather, the list’s existence is being used as a bargaining chip and has become somewhat “political,” he said.
Battin also said the relative lack of retailers on the list – just 13 out of 171 operational recreational marijuana stores – isn’t necessarily an indicator that dispensaries are doing well financially per se. Many are still very much struggling, despite help from a major crackdown on unlicensed marijuana sales that began in the spring.
“The vendors kind of pick and choose who to report,” Battin said. “I know for certain, last week, there were more than two retailers who owed vendors. It sort of gets into, ‘If we’re friends, I won’t report you,’ or ‘If we’re working something out, I won’t report you. But if I get upset at you, or things go sour … then I’ll report you.'”
And from what he’s heard from clients, it’s a fairly “seamless” process to get names both on and off the list.
In addition, Battin questioned why there isn’t any similar list for other license holders in the supply chain, only for delinquent retailers.
“There’s a lot of brands that aren’t being paid by the processors they’re working with. Where’s the list for those guys?” Battin asked.
