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New York cannabis officials are expected to announce the recipients of the first recreational marijuana retail licenses on Monday – but certain parts of the state will be off limits to dispensaries for the time being. And the state may have to hold off on issuing nearly half of the 150 dispensary licenses designated for the first round.
That’s because a federal judge issued an injunction last week that temporarily blocked New York from handing out retail licenses in certain parts of the state – including Brooklyn and the Mid-Hudson region encompassing Westchester and other counties just north of New York City. The injunction also applies to the Finger Lakes, Central New York and Western New York. Eleven other regions are not directly affected.
The temporary restraining order was requested by a company called Variscite NY One, which sued the state of New York and its Office of Cannabis Management in late September. Variscite alleged that the state’s cannabis equity program violates the “dormant commerce clause” of the U.S. Constitution, which is meant to protect interstate commerce, by discriminating against out-of-state applicants. The state’s Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary program, or CAURD, is prioritizing people with past drug convictions and their family members for the initial dispensary licenses.
“This injunction will likely delay the issuing of all 150 CAURD licenses,” said Fatima Afia, an attorney with Hiller P.C., which has a cannabis law practice. “The question is, how much of a delay will there be? That’s what we don’t really know just yet.”
Read more: https://gothamist.com/news/ny-cannabis-licenses-to-land-monday-but-federal-injunction-court-ruling-could-exclude-brooklyn?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=nypr-email&utm_campaign=Gothamist+Daily+Newsletter&utm_term=https://gothamist.com/news/ny-cannabis-licenses-to-land-monday-but-federal-injunction-court-ruling-could-exclude-brooklyn&utm_id=155656&sfmc_id=54353191&utm_content=20221118&nypr_member=False
