NEW YORK — New York State is expected to announce the first recipients of retail marijuana licenses on Monday, the latest step in an arduous process filled with legal red tape and one that will bring New York closer to capitalizing on the economic potential other states have collected from recreational marijuana sales businesses in recent years.
The state board will likely disclose the first 20-40 retail licenses. Up to 150 licenses are expected to be available to businesses and individuals, while another 25 licenses will be reserved for non-profit organizations, officials said.
Half of the 20 to 40 retail licenses announced Monday are also expected to be within the five boroughs, and those ready to go can open within days or weeks once the state gives them the green light.
The state Office of Cannabis Administration released a list of three dozen adult-use retail applicants whose licenses were pre-approved ahead of Monday’s vote at its Harlem offices in 125th street. Applicants in the initial round were required to demonstrate “significant presence in upstate New York.” See the full list here.
You won’t be knocking on doors today or tomorrow: Once a business or nonprofit gets a license, it still has to complete a round of paperwork. But New York’s first recreational marijuana dispensaries should be up and running by December, and it’s not even two weeks away.
It’s unclear how many total licenses will be issued statewide or in New York City, where some in Brooklyn are waiting with bated breath after a federal judge temporarily blocked the state from licensing recreational marijuana there and in areas from high amid ongoing legal challenges. to the selection process.
Judge’s order temporarily prohibits state from issuing retail licenses for the five regions of the state Variscite selected in its trade application: Brooklyn, Central New York, Finger Lakes, Mid-Hudson Region, and Western New York . It does not cover nine other regions of the state, including the rest of the city.
The ruling affects up to 63 of the 150 potential business licenses.
New York still plans to begin adult marijuana sales later this year, starting with store owners with previous marijuana convictions or their family members. State lawmakers designed the legal marketplace to ensure that the first dealers were people directly affected by drug enforcement.
In addition to would-be marketers, hundreds of hemp farmers who recently grew New York’s first legal crop of marijuana want clarity on when dispensaries will open to market their crop.
“They really have no choice but to wait and hope they don’t have to take any losses,” said Dan Livingston of the New York Cannabis Association, a trade group.
New York’s approach to legalization has received some praise for being innovative and for emphasizing fairness, and claimant attorney and cannabis attorney Scheril Murray Powell advises patience. As director of operations for the Justus Foundation, she works to help lifelong salespeople go legal.
