New York’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) is facing a massive influx in license applications. Many individuals are also applying for multiple licenses, hoping to get just one.
“New York state is receiving many more applications than they expected, which, from an economic perspective, is great for the area. But now there are additional steps that New York needs to take,” Ryan McCall, a cannabis law attorney at Tully Rinckey, says.
New York revealed two different application windows earlier this month: the first window is for non-provisional retail and microbusiness licenses. The second window is for all other licenses, including cultivation and processing.
Application Deadlines Extended
At a meeting today, the state’s Cannabis Control Board pushed the deadline to apply for non-provisional retail and microbusiness licenses to November 17, the OCM announced on X. The deadline for all other licenses was also extended until December 18.
“The large influx of applications could be a contributing factor to the extensions, but the other issue is that the state just dropped this on everyone,” McCall says. “In my opinion, the original timelines were fine, but now with other issues naturally arising such as applicants needing a couple of extra steps to get their full applications in, New York is giving them a little bit of extra time for both the first application window as well as the second window.”
This licensing process will prioritize social and economic equity (SEE) applicants, which include those from communities disproportionately impacted by the enforcement of past prohibition, minority- and women-owned businesses, distressed farmers and service-disabled veterans.
State regulators plan on issuing as many as 1,500 new marijuana licenses for retail, cultivation, processing and microbusinesses. The vast majority will be designated for marijuana retailers.
