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Prospective licensees in New York will be able to apply for cannabis licenses from today, Wednesday 4 October, for a period of 60 days.
People and businesses can now apply for cultivator, processor, distributor, microbusiness, and retail dispensary licenses in New York until 4 December, 2023.
The opening of the license application window follows a vote of approval by New York’s State Cannabis Control Board (CCB), which finalised the Office of Cannabis Management’s (OCM) proposed regulations for the adult-use cannabis market.
The OCM has suggested that it may issue up to 1000 licences – massively expanding New York’s cannabis market.
Estimated allocations from the OCM include:
- Retail Dispensary: 500 – 1000
- Microbusiness: 220
- Indoor Cultivation (Tier 1): 20
- Indoor Cultivation (Tier 2): 20
- Processor (Type 1: Extracting, plus all activities of Types 2 and 3): 55
- Processor (Type 2: Infusing and blending, plus all activities of Type 3):
100
- Processor (Type 3: Packaging, labeling, and branding, including for the performance of white labeling agreements only): no allocation limit, Office will review on a rolling basis.
The OCM has stated: “The issuance of licenses, especially provisional licenses for retail dispensaries does not mean that there will be 1000 stores open immediately.
“After an applicant receives a provisional license, they will need to work to find a compliant location for their retail dispensary, receive approval from the Office, and meet all required application requirements. Based on experience of operators in other states operationalizing a provisional license could take 6-12 months depending on the time to find a retail location and conduct renovations.”
In light of current litigation challenges facing the sates’ Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensaries (CAURD) programme, the OCM has suggested that provisional CAURD licensees may want to apply for an adult-use retail dispensary license during this application window.
The OCM stated: “Applicants should apply with the business entity that will operate the license. If this business entity is different than the entity that applied for under the CAURD programme, the Office will request additional information to support the change from the CAURD entity on file with the Office.”
Alongside the opening of the general license applications, the OCM also confirmed that currently-operational Adult-Use Conditional Cultivators (AUCCs) and Conditional Processors (AUCPs) will now be able to apply for full, non-conditional licenses.
Additionally, it has confirmed that this window is the first window of application and further licence application periods will be opened in the future.
