NY's first cannabis dispensaries are slated to open by the end of the year and under new licensing regulations, people convicted of a cannabis offense before legalization in March 2021 would have a head start in the entrepreneurship process. Read more:
People sit in a "smoking section" outside Weed World on November 16, 2021 in New York City.Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images
He said he spent three years behind bars for marijuana possession and faced stigma from friends and family. But he also said he wants to be recognized for his entrepreneurship and has been preparing to enter the legal industry for a long time. The policy to prioritize that group would likely garner between 100 and 200 licenses, according to Chris Alexander, executive director of the state’s Office of Cannabis Management. That would likely be just a fraction of the industry as the state has not set an upper limit for the number of overall licenses.
“In New York we acknowledge the need to move quickly, but also the need to do it right,” Alexander said at a press conference on the initiative Thursday. “We acknowledge that if we want a different outcome for our equity entrepreneurs, we have to take a different approach.” “What's exciting is that [New York is] attempting to stand the industry up with the people most impacted,” she added. “That's different.”
Green Thumb Industries is a cannabis company that recently moved into the industrial park in Warwick, NY. Local officials and labor leaders signed helmets at the groundbreaking for its new cultivation facility.Green Thumb Industries is a cannabis company that recently moved into the industrial park in Warwick, NY. Local officials and labor leaders signed helmets at the groundbreaking for its new cultivation facility.