KINGSTON – New York State Supreme Court Judge Kevin Bryant all but extinguished the state’s smoldering marijuana industry on Friday. The judge sided with a group of veterans who have sued the state’s Office of Cannabis Management claiming that the licensing distribution system for dispensaries is contradictory and discriminatory.
Judge Bryant blocked the state from processing or issuing marijuana dispensary licenses with an injunction that faulted regulators for creating a program that is at odds with the state law that legalized the new industry.
The state has been slow in issuing the licenses that give preference to budding business owners that have previous marijuana convictions. The delays have been credited with allowing illegal dispensaries to become a blazing industry.
The veterans argued that the state marijuana office gave preference to the people with prior convictions for the first round of licenses instead of the wider group of “social equity” applicants referenced in the original law. Judge Bryant had issued a temporary restraining order earlier this month that prohibited new dispensaries from opening while legal arguments were made in his court.
The plaintiffs say that veterans and other minority groups were supposed to receive their licenses in the first round but regulators focused solely on those applicants with marijuana convictions.
The judge placed the blame for the licensing delays on the cannabis management office which he claims, was aware of the contradictory language in the law and licensing process yet failed to address the issue.
Applicants who met all of the licensing requirements before August 7, 2023, are permitted to open for business. Applicants who were approved after that date are eligible to present their case to the court to plead for an order allowing them to open their dispensaries. The licensing regulators are under Judge Bryant’s order to cement the licensing application rules and the guidelines…
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