New York cannabis officials will be handing out up to 1,445 new business licenses in the coming weeks, including at least 500 for dispensaries.
Other licenses will go to marijuana growers, processors, wholesalers and microbusinesses after the application window for licenses closed earlier this month.
The additional licenses mark the opening of the state’s legal cannabis industry to anyone looking to get into the game, rather than just the local hemp farmers who were given the first cultivation licenses and the entrepreneurs with past marijuana convictions who were initially prioritized for dispensary licenses, through a system known as the Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary program.
It’s an opportunity for entrepreneurs including larger corporate players to enter the recreational market. It’s also a chance for people who previously sold weed underground, but didn’t meet some of the requirements of the conditional use program, to bring their operations above-board.
The state has already given out conditional licenses to more than 200 farmers and more than 400 dispensary owners. But because of bureaucratic red tape and legal setbacks, the legal cannabis industry has gotten off to a slow start — and another lawsuit filed against the state Office of Cannabis Management on Dec. 18 could potentially result in further setbacks. More than a year after Housing Works opened the state’s first licensed dispensary in the East Village, marking the launch of New York’s legal recreational cannabis market, there are still only a few dozen legal dispensaries open statewide — and they can be hard to pick out amid a sea of unlicensed shops.
In this new round, the state is prioritizing businesses that already have leases or own their own spaces, and is planning to award those licenses in January or February, said Aaron Ghitelman, a spokesperson for the state Office of Cannabis Management. Those businesses had to submit their applications earlier and will be the first…
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