The OCM Listen & Learn Report ends with a section called “Next Steps.” It’s short — less than a page. That brevity tells its own story. The state spent a year listening to 450 New Yorkers talk about the most pressing cannabis education crisis in a generation, and the prescription is still being written. Here’s what we think needs to happen — and what the families in this report deserve.
COMMON GROUND
What Youth and Parents Agreed On — Completely
For all the generational tension in this report — the parents who don’t know how to start the conversation, the kids who are afraid to ask — there are points of complete agreement that deserve to be centered. The state found that youth and trusted adults share more common ground than the cultural narrative around cannabis would suggest.
"Tell me the real."
— Youth participant, Albany
"If it's just like 'Don't do it,' we tune out. We need real facts."
— Youth participant, Brooklyn
"I need to know how to keep the door open, not just have one big talk."
— Trusted adult participant, Rochester
Both generations want honest, early, non-judgmental education. Not scare tactics. Not “just say no.” Not campaigns that “try too hard” and come across as cringe to the exact audience they’re trying to reach. Both groups said they want facts, delivered with respect, without assuming the worst about whoever is asking the question. That consensus is the foundation to build on.
"If you want us to listen, let us help make it."
— Youth participant, Albany — on cannabis education materials
Nearly 40% of youth participants asked to see themselves — their actual faces, their actual communities, their actual language — in any educational materials the state produces. Not stock photos. Not actors. Not AI-generated content. Real people from real neighborhoods who actually look and sound like them. This is not a hard ask. It is a specific, actionable, achievable request that has not yet been met.
WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN
Based on what the OCM heard — and on our own editorial read of what’s missing from New York’s cannabis education infrastructure — here is what we believe the state, the industry, and the licensed market owe the families navigating this landscape.
01
Plain-language family guides — distributed everywhere, not just online
A card or brochure that answers the ten most common family questions about NY cannabis law. Not a regulatory document. A human document. Available at schools, pediatricians’ offices, community centers, libraries, and — yes — licensed dispensaries. If you’re building the market, you fund the education.
02
Real mental health resources linked to cannabis education
85% of youth discussions raised mental health. You cannot talk about cannabis education in New York without talking about the mental health crisis driving youth toward it as a coping mechanism. Any public health campaign that doesn’t address both is incomplete. Fund the mental health resources alongside the cannabis education. They cannot be separated.
03
Community-made education content — not state-produced campaigns
Youth said it clearly: when a campaign tries too hard, they spot it instantly and tune it out. The OCM should fund community organizations to produce their own education content — in their own voice, with their own faces, for their own neighborhoods. The state provides the facts and the funding. The community provides the authenticity.
04
Parent workshops — in the buildings where parents already are
Schools, churches, community centers, cultural organizations. Not a Zoom webinar at 2pm on a Tuesday. Real workshops, in real community spaces, with childcare provided, where parents can ask questions without judgment and practice having difficult conversations. The 19 community organizations that hosted the Listen & Learn sessions are the blueprint for how to do this right.
05
Genuine enforcement of packaging standards for unlicensed products
The licensed market has packaging rules. The unlicensed market doesn’t follow them. Kids are encountering gummies and vapes with candy-adjacent packaging from sources that are entirely outside the regulatory system. Cracking down on illicit operators isn’t just about tax revenue — it’s a direct public health intervention for children.
06
Safe spaces for youth to ask questions without fear of punishment
Multiple youth participants said they would rather hold onto their questions than risk being punished for asking. That is a systemic failure. Youth need access to spaces — school clubs, after-school programs, community organizations — where they can ask questions about cannabis confidentially and receive accurate, non-judgmental answers. This is harm reduction. It works.
OUR POSITION
We cover New York’s cannabis industry. We review products, track dispensary openings, follow the regulatory landscape, and advocate for the legal market. We believe in what the legal market is building. And because we believe in it, we’re saying directly: the licensed cannabis industry has a responsibility to fund and support the public health education that its normalization is making necessary.
This is not a radical position. The alcohol industry funds responsible drinking campaigns. The pharmaceutical industry funds patient education. Tobacco companies were legally required to fund anti-smoking campaigns. Cannabis operators in New York are building profitable businesses on the back of a historic policy shift that affects every family in this state — including families with children who are navigating the visibility and accessibility of that shift every single day.
What We Think
The Listen & Learn Report is one of the most honest documents the New York cannabis establishment has produced. It doesn’t spin. It doesn’t celebrate. It just listens — and what it heard is a family system under stress, navigating a new landscape without a map.
We think the market and the state owe these families the map. Plain language. Honest information. Community-made content. Real mental health resources. Parent workshops. Enforcement of packaging rules that protect children from the unlicensed market.
New York built the legal cannabis market faster than almost any other state. Now it needs to build the education infrastructure at the same speed. The families in this report have been waiting long enough.
SERIES CONCLUSION · FAMILY & CANNABIS · NYC WEED NEWS
The Connection Nobody Wants to Talk About
The OCM Listen & Learn Report is a gift to anyone who cares about how cannabis legalization actually lands in the lives of real people — not in regulatory filings or tax revenue projections, but in kitchens and classrooms and community centers where families are trying to figure out how to talk to each other about something nobody taught them how to talk about.
New York’s young people are asking for honest information. Their parents are asking for tools to provide it. The research is done. The needs are documented. The only thing left is for the state, the industry, and the institutions of this city to respond with the same seriousness that these families brought to those 23 listening sessions across 11 counties.
We’ll be watching. And we’ll keep reporting.
✦ Read the full OCM report at cannabis.ny.gov/listen-learn-report
