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NY awards first batch of long-awaited licenses for recreational marijuana dispensaries
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Nov 21, 2022
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By
Caroline Lewis
Published Nov 21, 2022
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New York cannabis officials approved the first batch of recreational marijuana dispensary licenses at a meeting Monday of the Cannabis Control Board – a long-awaited move that comes more than a year-and-a-half after the state legalized the drug for adult use.
While New York is already flush with illicit vendors, officials have promised the first licensed dispensaries will open before the end of 2022, less than six weeks away.
The control board announced three dozen retail licenses, 28 of which went to companies owned by people with past marijuana convictions or their family members. Another eight licenses went to nonprofit organizations that serve people who were formerly incarcerated.
Of the 28 dispensaries operated by justice-involved applicants, 13 will be located in New York City. That includes three in the Bronx, four each in Manhattan and Queens, and two in Staten Island. None were issued in Brooklyn due to an ongoing lawsuit.
The first batch of licenses were all awarded through the state’s Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) program, which aims to give an edge to those impacted by marijuana prohibition in order to promote equity within the legal industry. The state plans to eventually distribute 150 dispensary licenses through the equity program – though 63 are currently tied up by a temporary restraining order a federal judge issued earlier this month.
The injunction prevents the state from issuing licenses in five regions across the state, including Brooklyn, Western New York, the Finger Lakes, Central New York and the Mid-Hudson Region just north of New York City. Those are the only areas that did not receive at least one approved license.
Some of the newly licensed nonprofits are also headquartered in the five boroughs. New Yorkers who have supported Housing Works in the past by purchasing books or used clothing from their shops around the city will soon be able to buy weed from the nonprofit as well.
“This is just the start,” Tremaine Wright, chair of the Cannabis Control Board, said in a statement. “We will continue to work to build an industry that is open to anyone who wants to participate.”
At Monday’s meeting, the Cannabis Control Board also proposed regulations for business licenses that will be open to a broader swath of the population, including bigger players in the industry and those who were not directly affected by prohibition. Still, even those licenses will require applicants to lay out a plan for promoting social and economic equity and adhering to other requirements, such as environmental sustainability standards, officials said.
These regulations will be open to public comment for 60 days before officials can finalize them and release additional license applications.
Cannabis licenses in limbo
The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York is still in the process of leasing and renovating retail properties for CAURD license holders, so the exact locations of the approved shops have yet to be announced.
Applicants for CAURD licenses had to list their top five locations. But the state is only considering applicants’ first choices due to the volume of applications received, according to a letter from the Office of Cannabis Management that was shared with Gothamist.
Gregory Pereira, an applicant from the Bronx who listed the Mid-Hudson Region as his first choice, received the letter on Friday. It said Pereira’s application “has no deficiencies, no initial background check flags, and a top score in [his] first preference region.”
Gregory Pereira at his office in The Bronx. Pereira is one of the more than 900 applicants competing for one of the state’s first recreational dispensary licenses.
Courtney D. Garvin for Gothamist
But the Office of Cannabis Management informed him that they would be “unable to recommend [his] application for approval by the [Cannabis Control] Board, until the judicial proceeding is resolved, or the plaintiff has withdrawn their complaint,” a reference to the recent federal injunction.
“I've learned over the years that you pray for the best and you bunker down for the worst,” Pereira said. “So, we do hope to still be in the running.”
Tagged
cannabis
new york state
Health and Science
marijuana
brooklyn
Caroline Lewis
Caroline Lewis is on the health care beat for WNYC and Gothamist. She has covered COVID, a nurses' strike, the overdose crisis and New York’s marijuana legalization effort, and spent a year investigating patients' medical bills. She always wants to hear about how everyday New Yorkers experience the health system. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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