Ben Gilbert, 38, smokes marijuana in lower Manhattan outside the first legal dispensary for recreational marijuana in New York on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. New York is set to dramatically expand its legal weed market and issue more than 1,000 new licenses starting early next year, with a priority on retail. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
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New York cannabis regulators took their first first step toward opening up new recreational dispensaries on Friday after lawsuits tied up the market since August. Sellers say it’s a step in the right direction but the market still has a long way to go until it’s populated by legal sellers.
The state’s Cannabis Control Board (CCB) greenlit six of the state’s 10 licensed medical marijuana companies to begin adult-use cannabis sales on Dec. 29 — a year after recreational sales first began. The move came at a meeting of the control board in Albany on Dec. 8 — the first since the state settled two lawsuits that have frozen the growth of its marijuana industry since August.
“Slowly we are now going