A $10,300 campaign donation to Savino’s re-election bid last year appears connected to MedMen

MedMen and affiliates have spent more than $100,000 on lobbying key New York lawmakers since 2018

New York State Department of Health is currently reviewing MedMen’s merger request with PharmaCann

Political donations totaling $130,000 linked to MedMen and affiliates have flowed to Gov. Andrew Cuomo

New York’s recreational marijuana battle sits on the front line of a generational war over American cannabis laws. As debate heats up, USA TODAY Network New York is compiling answers to key questions about legalized cannabis.

New York’s medical marijuana program would be overhauled by new legislation removed from the recreational pot debate, but still steeped in cannabis industry political spending.

From expanding patient eligibility to allowing smokable medical marijuana, the bill backed by state Sen. Diane Savino, D-Staten Island, includes many reforms requested by patients and pro-marijuana groups.

Some of Savino’s other changes, however, benefit politically active cannabis companies, despite marijuana opponents suggesting New York lawmakers prioritize lobbying and campaign donations over public health and social equity.

For example, MedMen Enterprises, a California-based cannabis conglomerate, has sought to double the number of dispensaries it owns in New York to eight, but legal hurdles stalled the expansion.

Currently, a company can only have four dispensaries under state law, and Savino’s legislation increases the limit to eight.

Newly reported details of MedMen-related lobbying and political donations targeting key lawmakers, including Savino, underscored how powerful cannabis companies aim to influence New York’s drug laws.

PRO: Here's the money behind marijuana legalization push in New York

OPPOSITION: What to know about anti-pot lobbying, pharma, alcohol and tobacco

A Savino spokesman addressed the campaign contributions in a brief statement.

"No contribution to Senator Savino's campaign has any influence on her government and policy decisions," said Thomas Musich, a spokesman for Savino.

MedMen did not answer emailed questions about lobbying and campaign donations for this story.

Both Savino and MedMen issued broad statements about cannabis reforms.

"This legislation is about increasing access to medical cannabis for patients with real needs who have had trouble obtaining a prescription," Savino said.

"In the past, we have proudly supported Sen. Savino and her mission to expand patient access," MedMen officials said. "We strongly believe that a world where cannabis is legal and regulated is safer, healthier and happier."

Cannabis money, politics

A $10,300 campaign donation to Savino’s re-election bid last year appears connected to MedMen. The money flowed through a limited liability company with a California address linked to MedMen, state records show.

The donation to Savino’s campaign was disclosed as MedMan Enterprises USA LLC, a different spelling that makes database searches difficult. But the donation address matched other New York political donations linked to MedMen at the time.

Further, MedMen and affiliates have spent more than $100,000 on lobbying key New York lawmakers, including Savino, since 2018. In addition to various medical marijuana reforms, it has sought to influence the ongoing push to legalize recreational pot for adults, state records show.

The spending is part of more than $3 million in New York lobbying connected to the cannabis industry since 2013.

MedMen’s New York expansion plan was revealed last year as part of its pending $682 million acquisition of PharmaCann, which owns four New York dispensaries. But the deal stalled due to the four-dispensary ownership cap first reported by the Albany Times Union.

To understand the stakes, consider that MedMen described its takeover of PharmaCann as the largest acquisition in U.S. cannabis history.

The deal would double the number of states where MedMen has licenses to 12, accounting for over 50 percent of the projected U.S. marketplace, the company reported. It involved 66 retail stores and 13 cultivation and production facilities, including pending acquisitions by MedMen.

The New York State Department of Health, which regulates medical marijuana, is currently reviewing MedMen’s formal merger request with PharmaCann, which they submitted in January, said Jill Montag, an agency spokeswoman.

Yet the new Savino legislation would allow MedMen’s plan to proceed in New York, but it comes amid mounting criticism of out-of-state cannabis businesses taking over marijuana.

Recreational, medical overlap

Gov. Andrew Cuomo in January spoke to public concerns about cannabis industry power when pushing recreational pot legislation.

"We have to do it in a way that creates an economic opportunity for poor communities and people who paid the price and not for rich corporations who are going to come in to make a buck," he said.

Still, political donations totaling $130,000 linked to MedMen and affiliates have flowed to Cuomo, who has changed course on legalizing marijuana after years of opposition. He signed New York’s medical marijuana law in 2014 and introduced recreational pot legislation this year.

Cuomo didn’t respond to an interview request about why he changed positions on medical and recreational marijuana.

Cuomo’s cannabis legislation, which failed to pass as part of the state budget in April, included key concessions for existing medical marijuana companies in New York.

For example, a key pillar of the governor's social equity plan is a ban on recreational marijuana growers from owning retail pot shops. In theory, this would keep big cannabis corporations from taking over the entire industry.

Existing medical marijuana companies, however, would be exempt from the ban at state regulators discretion, the legislation shows.

That means the companies could start growing and selling recreational marijuana within their system of existing greenhouses and dispensaries.

The potentially lucrative exemption would aid several powerful cannabis industry leaders and raises the stakes for MedMen’s effort to add dispensaries through a takeover of PharmaCann.

MedMen entered the New York market by purchasing Bloomfield Industries, a deal approved by the state Health Department in 2017.

Other mergers

The Health Department previously rejected merger requests submitted regarding Valley Agriceuticals, doing business as Remedy-NY, and Fiorello Pharmaceuticals, doing business as FP Wellness, and running a dispensary in Rochester.

Both companies recently re-submitted their requests, which are currently under review. Cannabis conglomerate Cresco seeks to merge with Remedy-NY, and Green Thumb Industries, or GTI, with FP Wellness.

At the time of the initial requests, the two companies had insufficient tangible operational assets to sell to the prospective buyers except their registrations, which is prohibited by regulation.

Medical marijuana reforms

In addition to the dispensary limits, Savino’s legislation addresses a range of other high-profile medical marijuana issues.

One is that it would allow medical professionals to use their clinical judgement to certify patients, a significant change from the current law that limits patient eligibility to a list of state-approved health conditions.

Initially, the list of 10 eligible diseases consisted of cancer, epilepsy and other serious illnesses as diagnosed by doctors registered in the program.

Then, as criticism mounted over limited patient access, regulators began expanding eligibility of conditions, such as chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder.

As a result, the tally of certified patients has increased steadily to 100,000, which is up from a couple thousand in the beginning of the program in 2016.

Savino’s legislation would maintain a state-sanctioned list of recommended health conditions, but it adds the clinical discretion and expands the eligibility of medical professionals to certify patients, a recommendation of a recent state Department of Health report.

It also removed some of the legal language, such as “serious” and “severe debilitating or life threatening” from the definition of conditions, which would allow for broader medical judgment.

Among other reforms in Savino’s legislation:

Allows patients to possess up to 60-day supply of the dosage, up from the current 30.

Permits patients to be certified to use smokable medical marijuana, but they must follow the same restrictions prohibiting tobacco smoking in many public places.

Establishes a medical marijuana research licensing process to regulate using the drugs for medical and clinical research, as well as other studies.

It allows companies to set and change the prices, but gives the health commissioner the ability to modify “if necessary to maintain public access to appropriate medication.”

Establishes designated caregiver facility rules for hospitals and other health-related settings. They would register to assist certified patients with the acquisition, possession, delivery, transportation or administration of medical marijuana.

Read the legislation here