Jeremy Rivera, the co-owner of a cannabis company called Terp Bros, was distraught when he found out in early August that a state Supreme Court judge was considering whether to prevent any new licensed cannabis dispensaries from opening in New York. It came just days before Rivera planned to start making sales at his shop in Astoria.
The judge ultimately issued a preliminary injunction last week that blocked any further expansion of the state’s retail market under its current licensing rules. Now, Rivera is one of just 30 licensed cannabis retailers — out of more than 400 statewide — that made it onto a list to be exempt from the injunction.
State officials submitted the roster to the court on Tuesday afternoon, and if the judge accepts it, Rivera will be able to move forward with his plans to open under the state’s Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary — or CAURD — program.
But hundreds of other cannabis entrepreneurs in the program were left off the list. Some had already sunk tens of thousands of dollars and months of work into setting up their businesses.
“New York cannabis has been a rough ride, to say the least,” said Rivera, whose company is named on the list as Kush Culture Industry, even though he’s doing business as Terp Bros. “I am happy that I’m on that 30-person list. But there are so many more people that didn’t meet those requirements. Does that make them any less quantifiably harmed?”
State Supreme Court Judge Kevin Bryant first issued a temporary restraining order against the state’s cannabis licensing program on Aug. 7, pausing any new licenses from being issued and barring any new shops from opening. The stoppage came in response to a lawsuit filed by four service-disabled veterans who alleged that the CAURD program – which prioritizes granting licenses to people with past marijuana convictions and their family members – was not sufficiently in line with the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, which legalized…
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