Times Union: Agriculture Department lax in hemp oversight, audit finds

The agency governing New York’s hemp industry “does not always follow established practices” when reviewing applications, inspecting growers and sampling the levels of the intoxicating ingredient in the cannabis plant, an audit from the state comptroller’s office found.

According to the report from the Division of State Government Accountability under Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli’s office, the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets inspected only 57 percent of growers authorized to produce hemp under a state pilot program that authorizes the limited cultivation of the plant…

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