First New York Licenses Will Go To Entrepreneurs With Prior Convictions
March 15, 2022New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the first 100-200 cannabis retail licenses in the Empire State will be awarded to social equity applicants who have been harmed by the war on drugs. To qualify, either the applicant or a family member must have been convicted of a cannabis-related offense. While other states have carved out licenses in similar ways, those programs have often been criticized for being slow and giving larger companies a head start over equity applicants or for being insufficiently funded, leaving applicants with licenses but no capital to get a store up and running.
New York’s lawmakers seem determined to avoid these pitfalls—first by putting equity applicants at the front of the line and second by proposing $200 million in the state budget to support the incipient businesses, namely by securing and renovating storefronts. As the first cannabis retail to open in the state, the goal is to get them up and running by the end of the year, though state regulators are already cautioning that many may not open to the public until early 2023.
“I could press the green button right now and have 40 dispensaries online,” Office of Cannabis Management executive director Chris Alexander told the New York Times, speaking of the state’s extant medical dispensaries. “But instead we’ve decided that the folks who have been most impacted actually have the space and the real runway to participate in a meaningful way.”—Danny Sullivan
Subscribe to Shanken News Daily’s Email Newsletter, delivered to your inbox each morning. You will also receive the Cannabis edition as part of your subscription.Tagged : cannabis, New York legalization
