5 ways the state’s pot industry changed Wednesday

The question, experts say, is whether it will have the resources – and the will – to do it.

So far, the state’s efforts to crack down on illegal stores have been focused downstate, with little enforcement in Western New York’s shadow market.

Now the state is promising to use its regulatory tools to crack down on those stores – an initiative that, if successful, would put the 23 legal stores now operating statewide on firmer footing.

“Tackling the illicit market is going to take time. It’s not like an overnight solution that will happen. And I do think that the governor’s office is taking the necessary steps to tackle this in a multi-tiered approach,” said Aleece Burgio, an attorney at Colligan Law.

The state’s rollout of the legal cannabis market has been slow and fitful – many have said bungled. The state was slow in issuing licenses, bureaucratic hurdles had stores opening at a trickle and lawsuits twice halted store openings altogether.

The current market is a far cry from the 150 dispensaries the state had initially said would be open by now. And New York’s $70 million in sales is just a fraction of what other legal states are making.

Here’s what’s changing:

The state’s cannabis industry was substantially expanded Wednesday, when it opened the general cannabis cultivator, processor, distributor, microbusiness and retail dispensary licensing application window. The window will remain open until Dec. 4, with licenses being awarded at the beginning of 2024, the governor’s office said.

Applications are being accepted through the New York Business Express platform.

Until now, only conditional adult-use licensing was available to New Yorkers who were affected by previous cannabis convictions and who had experience running a…