Paul Szmal: FLX Morning continues, it is 7.52, our cannabinoid correspondent, Darrell Hilker from High Points Dispensary on 5 and 20 in Geneva joins us. Morning, sir.
Darrell Hilkert: Morning, Paul. How are we doing today?
Paul Szmal: Ah, trying to get warm.
Darrell Hilkert: Yeah, good luck with that. Yeah, I think everybody is right now. It feels colder inside.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, for some reason it does, but maybe that's just me, I don't know. We're supposed to get a little bit of a warm-up tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes.
Darrell Hilkert: Yeah, might get up to about 30.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, I know, heat wave, right? People will be walking around in short sleeves outside, washing their cars, 30 degrees.
Darrell Hilkert: Yeah, might be able to settle the driveway anyway.
Paul Szmal: Very true, very true.
Oh, let's talk about what's happening now as we get ready for the start of a new year, calendar year 2026. Anything changing on the horizon for you in terms of state regulations, things of that nature?
Darrell Hilkert: Yeah, it's going to change for everybody. Last week, New York implemented a whole bunch of new rules and regulations, you know, as far as marketing and advertising and just a lot of different stuff, so, I mean, they're kind of doing away with, like, the billboards and limiting a lot of stuff with...
Paul Szmal: I had heard about the billboards being eliminated. I think there was... Isn't there a group that's challenging that?
Darrell Hilkert: Yeah, Lamar is the biggest billboard company around, and I know it's going to put a hurtin' on them because, I mean, not for nothing, probably 60 or 70% of the billboards you see out there now are something to do with cannabis.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, yeah. So, what else is changing?
Darrell Hilkert: A lot of the marketing, also, as far as what you're allowed to have on your packaging, the colors, the stuff that could represent cartoons, anything that could attract children, that's doing away. In the gray market, you know, there's a lot of stuff like gummy bears and mimics to candy bars and stuff like that, so New York is really putting a kibosh on that. It's just definitely... It can't be anything that would be an attraction for children under 21.
Paul Szmal: So that means no more bright, shiny colors?
Darrell Hilkert: Well, we'll see what they do, you know? The ball's in their court right now, so that's all going to be up to the brands and stuff, so that's all taken care of before we see the products.
Paul Szmal: Is this a case of where they're telling you what you can't do, but they're not telling you what you can do?
Darrell Hilkert: Well, yeah, that's kind of the way it's been through this whole process, like we're just trying to start up a loyalty program, doing some bundle deals and stuff, you know, trying to give our customers better deals, something to take off the burden of the cost, you know, because, you know, the legal market is a little bit more pricey than the gray market, of course, because there's taxes, there's lots of testing, and there's a lot that goes into the products now.
It isn't just growing it and selling it, you know, and bringing in truckloads from out of state, you know, illegally, and then throwing it out in the market where nothing's tracked, nothing's traced, nothing's tested.
Paul Szmal: Exactly, exactly, and that's the key difference between a licensed dispensary and some of the other places, is that it goes through the whole state regulated process, and there is a lot of product testing and stuff of that nature that's involved.
You were telling me, just before we cracked the mics here, that there's now going to be another level of tracking, a seed-to-store tracking system?
Darrell Hilkert: Yeah, it's a seed-to-sale, and this has been implemented in many other states, almost every state has it. It just took New York a little bit of time. I mean, we had to get the ball bouncing in the state, but now each plant, each seed, from the time it goes into the ground, will be tracked through the whole process, through the trimming, through the veg stage, all the way to harvest, and then whether it goes for processing or if it goes for pre-rolls or smokeable flower, but all the way through packaging, and then to my store and to the customer. New York will know every step from that seed until it gets to the customer.
Paul Szmal: Now, is there a cost involved that you wind up having to pass on to consumers with this new tracking system?
Darrell Hilkert: No, there's not a cost to it. It's regulations, and it's something we all have to follow. You will soon probably, I think within the first couple months of the year, everybody's going to have to have every single product in the store tagged with the tags for that specific product. It's going to take a little bit of time because all of our stores have an inventory right now, and now once they're implementing it, it's going to be here in about two weeks. It's going to be final. No more inventory can be brought in that's not tagged, and everything that we have in stock, we have to tag ourself, and then they got to give us a couple months to get through that inventory.
Paul Szmal: I was going to ask if there was going to be some kind of a grace period involved.
Darrell Hilkert: Yeah, there's got to be some way to get it all to flow into it, but everything has an expiration date, so everything is only going to be able to be on the shelf for so long. We do weekly reports. Inventory gets counted every single week. Through our POS system, they know exactly what's brought into the store every week. They know what's sold every week, and they know what we have on hand, and that's why we do the reports every week. That keeps them in the loop, but with the seed and sale, it really wouldn't even matter. They're going to know everywhere every single product goes, and hopefully that stops flooding any of the market out there with the illegal stuff.
Everybody can have a good, clean, safe product. Those that choose to go to the other places, the unlicensed places in New York, you're just taking your chances. Not saying it's all bad, but there are stuff that could be tampered with, and you will not know.
Paul Szmal: All right. If you want to check out High Points Dispensary, it's Roots 520 in Geneva, right by Denny's. Easy spot to find. Happy holiday season to you, Darrell, and we'll check back in with you when the new year turns.
Darrell Hilkert: All righty. Same to all you guys here. Everybody have a safe and healthy holiday.
Paul Szmal: It is 7.59 on FLX Morning on Finger Lakes Newsradio.
