New York is finally back to approving new cannabis licenses after an abrupt halt following a handful of legal challenges in 2023. The Empire State’s nascent adult-use market was finally able to add over 100 licenses earlier this month
The state’s Cannabis Control Board approved 109 business licenses at its Feb. 16 meeting, including 38 retailers, 26 microbusinesses, 24 cultivators, 12 processors and nine distributors.
Before those approvals, there were 70 active retail licenses, according to the CRB Monitor database, as of Feb. 23. Most of those licenses are for exclusively adult-use storefronts, but 12 belong to delivery companies without a storefront and four are for hybrid medical and adult-use dispensaries.
“Today we are prepared to approve the first non-conditional adult use cannabis licenses in New York State. This moment has been a long time in the making, and we assure you it only represents the beginning,” said CCB Chair Tremaine Wright during the meeting. “The office has been diligently working to prepare as many applications as possible for consideration. and we, the board, will continue to approve additional licenses at future board meetings.”
Last December, a court settlement with two groups of plaintiffs that were challenging the Office of Cannabis Management’s decision to prioritize certain social equity applicants allowed the state to finally move forward with licensing.
“It has been a rocky start to 2024 for cannabis in New York State,” said Wright. “We’ve read your letters, and we’ve heard your concerns. Today’s meeting aims to tackle a number of the matters that we hope will help propel our industry forward.”
Gov. Hochul blasts cannabis business licensing rollout
These approvals were the state’s first since Gov. Kathy Hochul reportedly ordered OCM to cancel its Jan. 24 meeting, just one day prior. The meeting’s agenda showed that 13 new licenses would have been awarded before the meeting was canceled.
About a week later, Hochul blasted the state’s rollout of legal cannabis while speaking with The Buffalo News editorial board. Hochul argued that the failure to roll out licensing in a timely manner has enabled the proliferation of gray market cannabis in storefronts across New York City.
The approvals include the first for non-conditional adult-use. The initial set of retail, cultivation and processing licenses for the adult-use market were conditional use and were reserved for applicants with prior in-state cannabis convictions.
The application period for the non-conditional licenses opened on Oct. 4. Unlike the earlier conditional-use licenses, these applications were open to the general public. Since then, the state has reportedly seen an avalanche of applicants and could issue as many as 1,000 licenses this year.
“New York right now is in the process of issuing one of the largest amounts of adult-use cannabis licenses any state has issued from a single application window. Today 109 licenses were issued, that number will continue to scale up at future meetings,” OCM Executive Director Chris Alexander said at the meeting.
“For every applicant eager to get a license, or worried they won’t get selected this round, I want to preach patience,” he added. “We’re building this market in a thoughtful and methodical way, and we’re working to avoid traps we’ve seen cause stumbles in other markets that have disproportionately harmed smaller operators.”
