Four service-disabled veterans settled a lawsuit with the Cannabis Control Board on Nov. 28, essentially unfreezing a conditional retail licensing program for the state’s marijuana industry. This means that over 400 retail establishments can again proceed towards receiving conditional licenses statewide. Specifically, entrepreneurs that were banking on opening dispensaries can now do so.
Only 26 dispensaries have been legally licensed and opened statewide. Eleven of those are located in New York City, with six in Manhattan.
The vets had essentially taken issue with equity provisions in the Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary Program, which they claimed excluded them from being prioritized. Essentially, the program had focused on granting licenses to people with past marijuana convictions (or immediate family members of those convicted under the old law). The veterans claimed that violated the state’s Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act. After the suit was filed in August, a judge in Ulster County froze the licensing program It had just started to crank up again after Governor Hochul signed legislation allowing hundreds of new firms to apply.
The veterans had piggybacked off a March lawsuit filed by four medical marijuana companies, who posited a similar argument claiming they were being illegally excluded from getting