The first licenses to sell recreational marijuana in New York will go to people who were impacted by the war on drugs and hemp farmers.
The state detailed its “seeding opportunity initiative” Thursday saying that people with marijuana-related convictions will be among those who get first dibs on the retail cannabis licenses awarded by the New York. Office of Cannabis Management Executive Director Chris Alexander says this subset of dispensaries must be owned by equity-entrepreneurs with a prior cannabis-related criminal offense who also have a background operating a small business.
“To my last count, the state has arrested over almost a million people over the last 20 years for cannabis offenses,” Alexander said. “And several, a lot of those individuals have then gone on to open and operate successful businesses. Small businesses that will become the backbone of this market.”
The Cannabis Control Board also approved a license application for hemp farmers seeking to grow adult-use cannabis as soon as this spring. The application portal for farmers will open March 15, while applications for the so-called equity owners will open in the summer.
Albany County District Attorney David Soares is questioning the state's goal of giving those convicted of marijuana offenses first dibs at the licenses.
“It’s not the marijuana that’s been the cause of violence, it’s the protection of the illicit marijuana industry in urban centers and in communities that have been the cause of violence,” the Democrat said on WAMC's Roundtable Friday. “And so to reward individuals who’ve been at the forefront of those offenses is just to me breathtaking.”
"New York State is making history, launching a first-of-its-kind approach to the cannabis industry that takes a major step forward in righting the wrongs of the past," Governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement. "The regulations advanced by the Cannabis Control Board today will prioritize local farmers and entrepreneurs, creating jobs and opportunity for communities that have been left out and left behind. I'm proud New York will be a national model for the safe, equitable and inclusive industry we are now building."
