A group of cannabis processors in New York have formed a new trade group, the Empire Cannabis Manufacturers Alliance.
According to NY Cannabis Insider, the ECMA will operate as an advocacy group and an information clearinghouse. Mack Hueber, a founding member and president of Gen V Labs, which makes Aryloom products, said the organization was formed to give the relatively small group of New York-based cannabis processors a bigger voice.
“There are just so many facets of the regulations that impact this middle tier of the supply chain,” Hueber told the publication. “Also, when you look at the number of processor licenses compared to the licensed cultivators and retailers, there’s less voices in the room on the processor side.”
The ECMA this year will push for an end to New York’s THC potency-based tax while urging a second look at regulations governing cannabis packaging and labeling, which hit the middle tier of the cannabis supply chain the hardest.
Besides Hueber, founding members of the ECMA include Melany Dobson, CEO of Hudson Cannabis; Ross Gartenlaub of New York Hemp Oil; Nicolas Guarino, CEO of Naturae; Brian Lane, Compliance Officer at NOWAVE; Jason D. Minard, General Counsel at Hepworth Pura; Jason D. Minard, General Counsel at Hepworth Pura; and Kimberly Tanami, CEO at HPI Canna.
The group has also brought on Kaelan Castetter from Castetter Cannabis Group as an advisor.
