NY Recommends Approval Of Record 99 Pot Dispensaries, 10 In The HV

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Nearly 100 new marijuana dispensaries have cleared a key hurdle to opening to the public and 10 of those new business will be located in the Hudson Valley.

"OCM is proud to announce the approval of a record breaking 99 CAURD licenses," the New York State Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) said in a surprise announcement on Twitter Monday morning. "We've been working tirelessly to ensure our state can access the many products and opportunities #NYCannabis has to offer and we're proud to continue our mission of true equity in cannabis."

Five of the locations granted conditional approval by the OCM are in the Hudson Valley District, which includes Westchester, Rockland, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Ulster, Columbia, Greene and Rensselaer counties. An additional five locations were approved for the Capital District, which includes Albany. Dozens of other dispensaries in New York City also got the nod today.

There are currently seven adult-use dispensaries that have opened in New York State, with three in Manhattan, one in Queens, one in Schenectady, one in Binghamton and one in Ithaca, the OCM said.

Last week, a federal court lifted an injunction that put the brakes on the issuance of licenses for cannabis sales in all but one region — an injunction remains in the Finger Lakes.

According to the OCM, the conditional adult-use retail dispensary, or CAUR, license is a central pillar of the New York State Seeding Opportunity Initiative. Through the initiative, New York’s first legal adult-use retail dispensaries will be operated by those most impacted by the enforcement of the prohibition of cannabis or nonprofit organizations whose services include support for the formerly incarcerated. These dispensaries will be making the first legal adult-use sales with cannabis products grown by New York farmers.

New York legalized recreational marijuana in March 2021.

“The primary goal of the conditional adult-use retail dispensary (CAURD) license is to create opportunities for New Yorkers harmed most by the prohibition of cannabis," Aaron Ghitelman of the OCM told Patch. "Part of that is granting up to 150 CAURD licenses to individuals who themselves, or their close family members, have had past eligible cannabis related offenses and have ownership stakes in profitable businesses. Individuals who receive CAURD licenses will have access to the $200 million social equity cannabis fund and the turnkey storefronts currently being secured and built out by Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, or DASNY. This first-in-the-nation fund will give these entrepreneurs the capital necessary to compete in New York’s adult-use cannabis market."

The cannabis management office plans to grant up to 25 licenses to non-profit organizations as a way of creating additional workforce development opportunities for justice-involved New Yorkers, Ghitelman said.

"Unlike individuals who receive CAURD licenses, these nonprofit applicants will not have access to the fund and will be required to provide their own compliant storefronts in order to receive a CAURD license," he said. Those dispensaries will help create further job opportunities for justice-involved individuals while their operations will support the important work the non profit organizations are already doing across New York State, he added.

Individuals with prior cannabis-related offenses were tapped to make the first adult-use cannabis sales with products grown by New York farmers, Gov. Kathy Hochul said in March, 2022

Hochul unveiled the first-in-the-nation "Seeding Opportunity Initiative," a farm-to-store plan that she said will make sales in New York possible before the end of 2022, jumpstart New York's cannabis industry, guarantee support for future equity applicants, and secure an early investment into communities most impacted by the disproportionate enforcement of cannabis prohibition.

"New York State is making history, launching a first-of-its-kind approach to the cannabis industry that takes a major step forward in righting the wrongs of the past," Hochul said.

The regulations advanced by the cannabis control board will prioritize local farmers and entrepreneurs, creating jobs and opportunity for "communities that have been left out and left behind," she said. "I'm proud New York will be a national model for the safe, equitable and inclusive industry we are now building."

The OCM will promote social and economic equity applicants who have been harmed by the prohibition of cannabis for adult-use licenses, establishing a goal of awarding 50 percent of licenses to social and economic equity applicants.

Cities, towns, and villages had an opportunity to opt-out of allowing adult-use cannabis retail dispensaries or on-site consumption licenses from locating within their jurisdictions. Municipalities could not, however, opt-out of adult-use legalization. Adult-use cannabis possession and use by adults 21 years of age or older in accordance with the Marijuana Regulation & Taxation Act (MRTA), is now the law of the land in New York State.

Reporting by Patch's Lisa Finn was included in this report.