First Recreational Marijuana Dispensary Licenses Approved for Brooklyn
By Celia Young April 3, 2023 4:26 pm
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Brooklyn could gain up to three marijuana dispensaries thanks to a new wave of recreational retail licenses issued by the state Cannabis Control Board on Monday.
The board, which regulates the state’s cannabis industry, handed out 99 permits to applicants across New York, the third batch since the state first started issuing retail licenses late last year. Brooklyn was without any since a judge imposed an injunction to stop them as part of a court case challenging the state’s requirements for legal sellers, but an appeals court lifted that hold last week.
“These new licenses will allow entrepreneurs to fairly participate in the legal market while promoting innovation and creative diversity throughout New York’s ever-growing cannabis supply chain,” Tremaine Wright, chair of the Cannabis Control Board, said in a statement.
The new Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licenses bring the total awarded in the state to 165, but only four stores have set up shop in the city. The latest, Good Grades, opened at 162-03 Jamaica Avenue in Queens in late March.
While New York has seen a slow rollout of legal, recreational marijuana sales, Brooklyn has been even slower since cannabis company Variscite NY One sued the state and the Office of Cannabis Management over how it approves permits.
Variscite NY One argued that the requirement that CAURD applicants have a “significant presence” in New York violates the U.S. Constitution by discriminating against out-of-state operators like Variscite, whose majority owner Kenneth Gay lives in Michigan, the New York Times reported.
The cannabis company also took umbrage with the state’s temporary requirement that CAURD applicants be first given to people who have been previously convicted of a marijuana-related offense or have a family member with such a conviction.
The injunction also prevented licenses from being granted in Central New York, the Mid-Hudson region and Western New York, so the decision to lift the injunction allowed dispensaries there to also move forward. Those regions scored a total of 10 licenses on Monday, according to OCM.
It did not lift the stay in the Finger Lakes region, and a court date has not yet been set for a hearing on the case. A lawyer for Variscite NY One, Christian Kernkamp, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The new retail permits come as the state has cracked down on illegal marijuana sellers. Gov. Kathy Hochul in March proposed fining illicit shops as much as $200,000 for possessing illegal cannabis, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg sent out 400 letters in February warning unlicensed stores his office would force their landlords to evict them.
Celia Young can be reached at cyoung@commercialobserver.com.
