Settlement talks broke down promptly in the high-profile legal battle over the future of marijuana dispensary licenses in New York, leaving the case on track to be decided by a judge later this month, court records show.
The state Attorney General’s Office has withdrawn from settlement negotiations that began following a court hearing Friday, according to a statement from the Coalition for Access to Regulated & Safe Cannabis, which represents several medical marijuana companies in New York interested in expanding into the state’s adult-use market as well as several social equity applicants.
The negotiations sought to settle two separate but related lawsuits filed by the cannabis trade group and service-disabled veterans. The lawsuits both claim, in part, that state regulators unconstitutionally favored people impacted by past marijuana prohibition enforcement in awarding initial dispensary licenses.
Justice Kevin Bryant last week issued a temporary restraining order blocking new dispensary licenses statewide. He also called on attorneys in both cases to reach a speedy compromise to avoid a potentially lengthy legal battle, which could prove devastating to the fledgling legal cannabis industry.
Now, Bryant is expected to consider a request to issue a preliminary injunction against the state during a hearing set for Aug. 25. That ruling, in many ways, would determine whether the ban on dispensaries stays in place as the lawsuits move forward, or the cases stall.
What to know about NY marijuana lawsuits
The cases focus on how and why state regulators created the Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary category, which has exclusively awarded licenses to justice-involved businesses.
Cannabis coalition spokesman the Rev. Kirsten John Foy on Tuesday criticized the state for ending negotiations “that could have resolved legal challenges, spared the CAURD program, provided an outlet for growers to sell surplus flower, and benefited the entire New York cannabis industry.”
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