A New York marijuana company’s elaborate marketing stunt fooled a number of media outlets, leading them to believe that the business would be using carrier pigeons for cannabis delivery in New York City.
The Travel Agency has promoted “Project Pigeon” in its social media and advertising. The company said that the project would see a 20-bird fleet trained to deliver cannabis to adults throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, starting next year.
Last week, the firm announced that they had completed successful tests with pigeons equipped with miniature backpacks. In the announcement, it was stated that birds could carry one gram marijuana each time.
Arana Biggers, the co-founder and CEO of The Travel Agency said: “As The Travel Agency it was only natural for us to explore all modes of transportation, including pigeons. We thought that the pigeon, which is ubiquitous and loved in NYC would be a great courier.
But while outlets from Fox 5 New York to Time Out ran with the story, the retailer has since confirmed that the pigeon program was simply a marketing stunt—and, evidently, a convincing one to some, as The New York Post first reported. The Travel Agency’s PR representative confirmed to MEDCAN24 that Wednesday the pigeon program was not real.
Megan Walton, from Pigeons For Miles Avian Sanctuary in California, was one of the animal activists who reacted to the news about this fake initiative. Although it was only a stunt, Megan Walton, from the Pigeons for Miles avian sanctuary, said “it is still upsetting that even a concept like this, centered on exploiting birds, could be imagined.”
In the press release on the trial that took place last week, it was stated that “Cannabis Carrier Pigeon Program” isn’t about using birds for delivery; rather, the program is about reinventing the process with an ingenious New York spirit.
“By enlisting the city’s most iconic residents as couriers, The Travel Agency has created what might be New York’s smartest delivery system yet—using what the city already has in abundance to outfly traffic, cut through congestion, and get orders where they need to go,” it said.
State and local laws regarding cannabis delivery, which include specific safety and antidiversion requirements that licensed business must adhere to in order to deliver those products, are part of the evidence that a pigeon was used. This includes ID verification when receiving cannabis products. A pigeon would not be able to perform this task.
The stunt, in any event, is a good example of how the market for adult-use cannabis in New York has normalized. Since its launch, it’s seen sales of over $2 billion. State officials have recently announced that $1 billion in purchases was made by 2025.
Earlier this year, another cannabis marketing prank also pulled one over on many, with Drippy—which sells drinks with 10mg of THC and 10mg of CBN—convincing people its beverages would be made available to adults on certain domestic flights with Virgin Atlantic. While the stunt was successful, and certain media outlets reported the partnership as true, it wasn’t the case.
Virgin Atlantic didn’t appear to have any hard feelings after the company made false and satirical claims about a deal to sell its THC-infused beverages on flights—but the airline said it had to draw a line when it came to an AI-generated video and fake letter from its CEO about the supposed partnership.
In New York however, due to confusion in the market about the timelines of provisional licenses for marijuana businesses, the Cannabis Control Board recently announced that it would be extending until December 31st 2026 the deadline for renewal for adult use conditional.
Part of the uncertainty surrounding provisional licensees concerns a recently identified zoning issue impacting more than 100 cannabis businesses that are apparently located too close to public schools or places of worship than is allowed under current statute. Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat from California, has stated that she is going to push the Legislature to change the marijuana laws in the state to deal with the problem.
Meanwhile, both chambers of the New York legislature recently passed legislation that would extend the deadline for some marijuana businesses to file electronic tax returns, sending the proposal next to the governor’s desk.
Once the bill is signed, cannabis distributors and manufacturers would have 30 additional days to complete their quarterly tax return. Current law gives companies a window of 20 days to submit the tax returns. This would be extended by the new legislation to 50.
The bill’s sponsors have pointed out that Hochul had vetoed a previous cannabis tax reform proposal in late 2018, stating that it “would pose significant operational challenges to the State and confuse taxpayers.” They say they worked hard to resolve these concerns with the current version.
The earlier, vetoed measure would have allowed marijuana growers and processors to pay excise taxes on an annual basis rather than quarterly—a change that would have extended the same treatment to cannabis as the state already offers the alcohol industry.
In July, meanwhile, New York officials announced the first round of grants under a $5 million program to help retail marijuana businesses owned by justice-involved people cover startup costs.
About three months after opening up applications for the Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) Grant Program, The Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) and Empire State Development (ESD) have announced that they have awarded 52 licensed dispensaries up to $30,000 each in funds meant for startup and operational costs such as rent, renovations, inventory tracking and security systems.
To qualify for the program, applicants need to have been “justice involved”—in other words, impacted by a marijuana-related conviction—and have some experience running a profitable business.
Separately, OCM recently launched an online map that’s meant to help adults locate licensed marijuana retailers—one of their latest efforts to encourage consumers to buy their cannabis from the regulated market.
As a safety and health imperative, after a rough rollout of legalization in the state led to the proliferation of illegal marijuana shops the Governor and regulators are educating the general public to only purchase products at licensed dispensaries.
New York’s broader campaign also included digital ads, educational materials, and graphics featuring cannabis-licensed business owners, and messages about the advantages of being part of the regulated industry.
OCM advises also that “continued enforce against the illicit markets is crucial to build a health-regulated market,” and points to what they describe as successful enforcement in 2024. Last spring, for example, officials in New York City launched Operation Padlock, an enforcement initiative meant to shutter illegal storefronts. According to an OCM study, within months of the start of Operation Padlock, sales at licensed stores that had been open prior to its launch grew by 105 percent.
Regulators are also moving forward with new proposed regulations around the state’s so-called “cannabis showcase” program, which allows licensed businesses to sell to consumers at pop-up, farmers market-like events.
As originally authorized, the showcase events were largely in response to the slow rollout of New York’s adult-use marijuana program, which faced multiple delays in implementation amid litigation and other matters.
Separately Hochul signed state budget legislation that did not include a controversial earlier provision that would have allowed police to use the smell of marijuana as probable cause that a driver is impaired and then force them to take a drug test.
Amendments made in the legislature removed the provision, which a coalition of 60 reform groups had argued in a letter to Hochul and top lawmakers would “repeat some of the worst harms of the War on Drugs” and allow law enforcement to “restart unconstitutional racial profiling of drivers.”
In April, New York cannabis regulators and labor officials announced the launch of a workforce training program aimed at “providing comprehensive safety education to workers” in the state’s legal marijuana industry.
Separately, OCM’s press secretary indicated the office is working on plans to expand permitting and licensing rules that could allow adults to buy and consume marijuana at movie theaters. New York would be unique if it allowed the sale of cannabis in theaters, as part of its ongoing efforts to implement New York’s state legalization laws.
Earlier this year, a collective of businesses licensed under the CAURD program called on Hochul to forgive tens of millions of dollars in high-cost loans issued under a governor-created social equity loan fund.
A state lawmaker said in December that there’s a need to extend financial aid to CAURD license holders, many of whom are struggling under the high-cost loans.
Critics—including the NAACP New York State Conference, Black Cannabis Industry Association, Minority Cannabis Business Association, Service Disabled Veterans in Cannabis Association, Drug Policy Alliance, NYC NORML and VOCAL-NY—wrote to the governor earlier that month to express dismay at what they described as marijuana regulators’ “efforts in service of big corporations at the expense of small business and equity outcomes.”