Medical Marijuana Suppliers Sue By New York Cannabis Authorities!
Some of New York’s medical marijuana companies are part of a group that is suing the state’s cannabis regulators. They want all retail dispensary applicants to be able to get a license right away. Some of New York’s medical marijuana companies joined a group that sued the state’s marijuana regulators on Thursday.
They wanted all retail dispensary applicants to be able to get a license right away. The lawsuit, which was filed in state court in Albany, says that state cannabis regulators went beyond the law when they only let people with past pot convictions or their relatives apply for the first round of licenses in August, instead of letting everyone apply.
The state’s Cannabis Control Board, Office of Cannabis Management, and top officials are all named as defendants in the lawsuit. Offering first choice to people with past pot convictions or their family members was a way to help people who have been hurt the most by pot policing, which led to a disproportionate number of Black and Latino people being arrested.
A memo filed with the lawsuit says that the cannabis regulatory boards “overstepped their rule-making authority.” As a result, “the licensing of the hundreds of additional dispensaries needed to meet consumer demand and push out the illegal markets has been put off indefinitely.”
The lawsuit comes as New York tries to rev up what could be a huge legal market almost two years after it made it legal for adults to use marijuana for any reason. So far, 66 licenses for dispensaries have been given out. The fifth store in the state was going to open in Ithaca on Thursday.
Coalition for Access to Regulated and Safe Cannabis, a trade group made up of licensed medical cannabis providers like Curaleaf, Green Thumb Industries, Acreage Holdings, and Pharmacann, filed the lawsuit. A coalition spokesperson said that the limited licensing program has kept the companies from getting into the adult-use market in the state.
This isn’t the first time that the state’s process for giving cannabis licenses has been challenged in court. In November, after the Variscite case, a judge temporarily stopped New York from giving licenses to pot dispensaries in Brooklyn and some parts of upstate New York.
NY One person said that the state’s way of choosing people unfairly favors people who live in the state over people who live in other states. The case is still going on. In the meantime, unlicensed pot shops and trucks have sprung up all over the state.
The lawsuit says that key parts of the law that legalized recreational marijuana would have been met if licensing had been open to all applicants. This would have cut down on illegal storefronts and brought in enough tax money to reinvest in local communities. A representative from the Office of Cannabis Management said he didn’t have anything to say about the lawsuit.
Maysoon Khan works for the Statehouse News Initiative of the Associated Press and Report for America. Report for America is a non-profit national service program that puts reporters in local newsrooms to cover issues that don’t get enough attention. Maysoon Khan has a Twitter account.
