NYS Cannabis Control Board approves 99 dispensaries at its April 3, 2023 meeting

The first four cannabis dispensaries in Western New York have been approved by the Cannabis Control Board.

The Board approved 99 total Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensaries at its meeting Monday. None of the four are in Chautauqua County.

Western New York, Central New York, Mid-Hudson, and Brooklyn all received licenses, marking the first provisional licenses to be issued in these regions following last week’s modification of a court injunction that had prevented the Board from issuing them. To date, the Board has granted at least one CAURD provisional license in each region other than the Finger Lakes, which remains blocked by the injunction.

License applications will continue to be sent to the Board for consideration on a rolling basis. To be eligible, applicants themselves were required to either have had a cannabis conviction or be the family member of someone who has and have owned a profitable business. Nonprofits were eligible if they had a history of serving current or formerly incarcerated individuals, including creating vocational opportunities for them; have at least one justice-involved board member; at least five full-time employees; and have operated a social enterprise that had net assets or profit for at least two years.

The businesses were located at 214 Fairmount Avenue and 29 North Main Street.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist said in a release that the businesses had not received licenses to sell cannabis from the New York State Office of Cannabis Management.

A complaint sent to the Jamestown Department of Development against the businesses resulted in a Cease-and-Desist order sent to the businesses. After failure to comply, the businesses were closed.

Sundquist said in a statement, “I fully support legal cannabis and the potential for legal dispensaries in Jamestown. However, these businesses must comply with the law and have a license from the proper authorities. The illegal selling of a highly-regulated drug out of a storefront is completely unacceptable. Under my administration, we will enforce the law and shut down any business that is selling cannabis illegally.”

The State Office of Cannabis Management announced applications for Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licenses are now being accepted online. Licenses to sell adult-use cannabis will be awarded people who were most impacted by the enforcement of the prohibition of cannabis.

To be eligible for these licenses, applicants must:
• Have a marijuana-related offense conviction that occurred prior to the passage of the Marijuana Regulation and Tax Act (MRTA) on March 31, 2021, or have had a parent, legal guardian, child, spouse, or dependent with a pre-MRTA marijuana related offense conviction in the State of New York.
• And have experience owning and operating a qualifying business.

The application window will close on September 26, 2022. More information for applicants can be found at https://cannabis.ny.gov/caurd

Jamestown City Council

Jamestown City Council President Tony Dolce confirmed to WRFA that despite the introduction of local law last month calling for the city to “opt out” of allowing cannabis dispensaries to operate within the city as well as to allow on-site consumption of cannabis products, the council has decided it will take no action on the proposal.

As a result, there will be no public hearing scheduled on the law and there will be no subsequent vote during this month’s council voting session.

Under the state law approved earlier this year, municipalities across New York have until December 31 of this year to “opt out”. If they don’t opt out by that deadline, they will no longer have the opportunity to do so once the New Year begins. However, municipalities that do decide to opt out can still reverse the decision at any point moving forward.

Municipalities that choose to “opt in” could potentially see a bump in sales tax revenues once dispensaries are allowed to open given that they would receive 4% of the 13% tax collected by New York State on cannabis products.