New York’s cannabis industry, which has been stuck in a legal quagmire for months, may now be able to progress as regulators voted to approve a settlement agreement yesterday.
The Cannabis Control Board (CCB) voted unanimously to approve the settlement of two lawsuits during an emergency meeting on Monday (November 27).
While the details of the agreements reached have not yet been made public, they related to the Carmine Fiore et al vs the CCB, which saw a group of veterans argue they had been shut out of the process bring a lawsuit in August, and Access to Regulated & Safe Cannabis vs the CCB, filed by a coalition of MSOs in March.
Both of these settlements must now be approved by the state Supreme Court before the injunction, which has impacted ‘some 436 professional licensees’, can be lifted.
The Office of Cannabis Management’s (OCM) Executive Director Chris Alexander said in a press release on Monday: “Now that we have opened up licensing to all equity entrepreneurs and provided a clear pathway to participation in the adult-use market for our medical operators, we are able to continue to move this program forward together.
“New York’s cannabis market was designed to be the most equitable market in the world. We remain undeterred by the challenges of standing up that new market, and believe that the expansion of licensing opportunities and the inclusion of our medical operators will collectively ensure the success of the adult-use program and the expansion of the medical program.”
