what to know
- A New York judge temporarily blocked the state from issuing retail marijuana licenses after a lawsuit by four veterans who argue regulators are wrongly prioritizing applicants with drug convictions.
- The order is the latest legal setback for the state’s fledgling marijuana market.
NEW YORK — A New York judge temporarily blocked the state from issuing retail marijuana licenses after a lawsuit by four veterans who allege regulators are wrongly prioritizing applicants with drug convictions.
New York Supreme Court Justice Kevin Bryant on Monday issued a temporary restraining order preventing the state from issuing or processing marijuana dispensary licenses.
The order is the latest legal setback for the state’s fledgling marijuana market, which has been beset by a slow rollout that critics blame on a cumbersome process designed to grant the first round of licenses to people with prior drug convictions or to certain types of non-profit groups.
The attorney general’s office, in a court filing, warned that halting the program will financially hurt retailers who are spending money to set up stores with provisional licenses. The state is not expected to issue new licenses until at least September, when a cannabis regulatory board will meet, the attorney general’s office said in a filing last week.
Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for Friday in Kingston, New York.
The veterans’ lawsuit alleges that the state’s Office of Cannabis Administration created a licensing system that is at odds with the state’s recreational marijuana law, improperly limiting initial licenses to people with drug convictions rather than one more category. wide range of so-called applicants for social equity.
The order halting the state’s program comes after regulators voted in May to settle a federal lawsuit that prevented them from issuing licenses in the Finger Lakes region. That lawsuit was brought by a company owned by a Michigan resident who said New York’s licensing system unconstitutionally favors New Yorkers over out-of-state residents.
Separately, state regulators last month approved the sale of marijuana at festivals and other events after growers complained there aren’t enough legal dispensaries in the state to handle their crops.
As the state’s legal licensing program has stalled, authorities have begun shutting down a glut of illegal marijuana shops that have sprung up as unlicensed sellers move in to fill the void.
