As soon as the end of this year or early 2023, you’ll be able to walk into legal cannabis dispensaries in many New York communities to buy marijuana produced in the state.
And those dispensaries will be owned by someone with a prior conviction related to cannabis or someone with a family member with such a record.
The Cannabis Control Board, the state agency that is laying out the groundwork for the regulation of the use and sale of marijuana, announced the plan Thursday that aims to jump-start the legal retail business. At the same time, it gives those who found themselves part of the criminal justice system because of marijuana a chance to build a legal business.
“Today, we’ve made a huge advancement in our efforts to prioritize New York small and distressed farmers, equity entrepreneurs and ultimately our goal to generate the resources that will drive the investments into communities that have been most impacted by overcriminalization,” said Chris Alexander, executive director of the state’s Office of Cannabis Management during a meeting of the office’s control board.
“Instead of opening our market with the same existing operators who are dominating the national space, we’ve instead decided to put those who have been most impacted at the center of what we are building here,” he said later during a video news conference.
Many communities in Western New York intend to allow dispensaries and other cannabis businesses, but some have opted out, including Clarence, West Seneca, Elma, Marilla, the village of Orchard Park, Porter and Royalton.
The state plans to offer the first 100 to 200 licenses for dispensaries — shops that can legally sell cannabis products — to “justice involved” people, New York residents with a prior arrest or conviction in the state for a cannabis-related offense, according to the New York Times. It wasn’t immediately clear how many licenses would be approved for the Buffalo area.
These “justice involved” dispensary owners will get financial help from the state. Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed providing a $200 million “social equity fund” in her budget proposal to help the businesses find and fix storefronts, the Times reported.
The plan comes just short of a year after state lawmakers voted to legalize and regulate the adult use of cannabis.
The Control Board has laid out some details regarding who will be eligible for those first licenses:
— Applicants must live in New York.
— The applicant must have an arrest or conviction for a marijuana-related offense prior to March 31, 2021, or a family member with such a record.
— They must already run some kind of business successfully.
— Priority will be given to the people with the records first, then those with family members with records, as well as those who were arrested in communities considered disproportionately affected by the criminalization of cannabis.
— Certain nonprofits that work with “justice involved” people and communities can also apply for dispensary licenses.
There are exceptions. People convicted of a felony in the prior five years for fraud and money laundering or for providing a minor with cannabis will be prohibited. So, too, will those who owe taxes, had a license related to cannabis previously revoked or “is not a person of good moral character.” Also, police officers are not allowed to have a license.
The $200 million fund is a critical part of the plan. Other states have attempted different methods to achieve social equity in the cannabis market, but in many cases, such candidates have struggled to get their businesses off the ground.
“We’ve seen access to capital and real estate have been significant barriers to getting equity entrepreneurs into the space,” Alexander said. “And so we’re doing the work now to remove those barriers and provide real meaningful support.”
He noted that many more licenses will be approved in the future.
Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, D-Buffalo, who championed the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, supported the plans announced.
“New York State is doing what no other state has done by focusing on the people most criminalized by cannabis prohibition, and promoting New York farmers. The cannabis industry is going to grow our economy and create new wealth, and it is imperative that we make sure that opportunities begin with the most deserving New Yorkers,” she said in a statement Thursday.
Some lawmakers criticized the plan to give licenses to people with marijuana convictions, among them State Sen. George Borrello, R-Jamestown, who said it sets up a double standard for liquor store owners, like himself, and cannabis dispensary owners.
“As a business owner who holds a liquor license, I know firsthand that there is a very high standard for applicants that includes an extensive background check of all owners, including investors. Felony convictions are an automatic bar to entry and are done to ensure that organized crime is not involved in the business,” Borrello said.
“Yet, for marijuana licenses, those with drug convictions are not only going to the front of the line, they are going to receive start-up money, courtesy of state taxpayers,” he said in a statement. “… The idea that we can turn career criminals into upstanding businesspeople by giving them taxpayer-funded dispensaries in an all-cash industry is utter madness.”
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