Currently, 463 conditional retail dispensary licenses have been issued to social equity applicants.
We understand that providing the first retail dispensary licenses in New York State to Justice-involved New Yorkers is part of the OCM’s goal towards equity in the New York State cannabis market.
The Marijuana Regulation & Taxation Act states, “a goal shall be established to award fifty percent of adult-use cannabis licenses to social and economic equity applicants.”
We now know there are 1,457 retail applications for those that already have control of their own location like us. These New Yorkers applied during the October 4th - November 17th application window.
At the Friday December 8th Cannabis Control Board meeting, the OCM announced that only 250 of those 1,457 will be awarded retail dispensary licenses. So only 18% of the applicants that have a deed or lease for a location will win this lottery.
The OCM has also shared that 23% of the 1,457 retail applicants with proof of control are not social equity applicants. That is 335 applicants that are not social equity applicants.
In order to meet the MRTA’s goal of 50% of licenses going to non-social equity applicants, we urge the OCM to issue licenses to those that are not social equity applicants from the application window.
The interior of LakeHouse Cannabis, a dispensary ready to open in Cortland, NY. (Photo courtesy Paul Suits, Jr.)Courtesy Paul Suits, Jr.
Simply put, we are growing fearful that those that are not social equity applicants will not get a license before all of the retail dispensary licenses are entirely issued. Although we are not social equity applicants, we have a strong social equity plan.
How is the OCM making sure to keep that 50% goal?
My brother and I have built a million dollar dispensary in Cortland that is a 90-second drive from the Interstate 81 off ramp.
Between Syracuse to Binghamton, there is only one legal dispensary in Ithaca. There has never been a medical marijuana dispensary in Cortland. We effectively live in a ‘cannabis desert’.
We just need a license.
It is imperative that we right the wrongs of the cannabis prohibition and have a priority on social equity.
But New York State also has an oversupply of legal cannabis and a proliferation of illicit cannabis stores.
Also, in the OCM’s Licensing FAQ, it is estimated that there will be 500-1,000 retail dispensary licenses issued in the licensing application window. With only 250 going to applicants with their own locations, does that mean 250 to 750 are going to provisional dispensary licensees without their own location?
Ultimately, New York needs new dispensaries ASAP and we are ready. We just need a license.