High Times For NY Marijuana Dispensaries: Licenses Open Up

NEW YORK CITY — A pot of gold awaits New Yorkers who got their long-awaited chance Thursday to apply to run recreational marijuana dispensaries.

License applications for legal pot shops opened up online during the morning — and, as promised, people who faced the brunt of past harsh drug laws got the first hit.

Retail adult-use marijuana dispensaries must be majority-owned or controlled by a "justice involved" person or people, according to regulations crafted by the state's new Cannabis Control Board.

Advocates with The Legal Aid Society hailed the move as a step toward equity for New Yorkers with past marijuana convictions, most of whom are from Black and Brown communities.

"We hope that the promises of social and economic equity become reality as the recreational marijuana industry rolls out," they said in a statement.

Legal marijuana dispensaries likely will open before the end of 2022, officials have said.

New York officially legalized recreational marijuana in 2021, but legal sales have been caught in a bureaucratic haze since then as officials set up rules for dispensaries.

Weed-selling shops, trucks and other pop-ups have blossomed across New York City in the meantime, despite officials such as Mayor Eric Adams frowning upon them.

"We can't have local bodegas selling these products," Adams said this week. "You can never have a legal market with an illegal (one) ... They can't go together."

Adams, along with state officials, has steered prospective weed entrepreneurs toward the legal route of seeking cannabis licenses. And he has hinted a crackdown on unlicensed sales — such as an NYPD-led weed truck takedown — will follow the opening of legal marijuana dispensaries.

Legal Aid advocates also pressed Gov. Kathy Hochul and state officials to follow through on the promise of a New York cannabis market that aims to keep people impacted by weed prohibition at the forefront.

"Governor Hochul pledged $200 million to support social equity applicants, but there is much more to be done for a truly equitable cannabis industry and to ensure that New Yorkers who bore the brunt of racist drug laws and enforcement are not excluded," they said in a statement.

Applications for Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary licenses can be found here.