New York Regulators Extend License Application Deadline, Approve Increased Enforcement Authority Against Illicit Cannabis Operations

New York’s Cannabis Control Board (CCB) signed off at its Oct. 17 meeting on extending the state’s license application deadline and approved increased enforcement authority against non-licensed cannabis operators.

The resolution to revise the adult-use cannabis application period extends the application deadline from Dec. 4 to Dec. 18 in the hopes that the two additional weeks will give more prospective business owners a chance to apply.

“We’ve received a significant amount of interest from New Yorkers and from interested applicants across the country,” Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) Executive Director Chris Alexander said at Tuesday’s meeting. He said the office has received thousands of applications for all types of adult-use cannabis business licenses since the application period opened Oct. 4.

The deadline extension also applies to the expedited application period for dispensaries and microbusinesses that have already secured a location to set up shop. While this original application period was set to close Nov. 3, it has now been extended to Nov. 17.

Linda Baldwin, general counsel for the OCM, requested the CCB’s approval during Tuesday’s meeting on emergency enforcement regulations that regulators hope will reduce the burden of proof required to determine a business is illegally selling cannabis.

Board members ultimately approved the new rules, which mandate that once the OCM issues a notice of violation to an unlicensed cannabis retailer, the business has five days to respond and provide a “certificate of compliance,” a form stating that it has ceased the alleged illegal sales.

“The burden on us to go back every single day in order to prove noncompliance is far too great,” Baldwin said at Tuesday’s CCB meeting. “This certificate of noncompliance allows the business to inform us that they have, in fact, complied with the order.”

The regulations approved this week will also authorize the OCM to levy fines up to $20,000 per day on illicit cannabis retailers.

OCM Director of Policy John Kagia said during Tuesday’s meeting that on the legal side of the market, New York’s adult-use dispensaries have sold $51 million worth of products between July and September and a total of $81 million so far this year.

Five of the state’s social equity cannabis licensees previously barred from opening their dispensaries under a court injunction are in the process of launching their operations under exemption orders; once all five open up shop, New York will have 27 total operating adult-use retailers.

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Supreme Court Judge Kevin Bryant issued the exemption orders Oct. 6, freeing the five dispensaries from a lawsuit filed by a group of service-disabled veterans who argue that the OCM violated state law when regulators excluded them and other groups from adult-use cannabis licensing opportunities under New York’s Seeding Opportunity Initiative.

Kagia said at Tuesday’s CCB meeting that the increasing number of legal cannabis retailers, coupled with the OCM’s Cannabis Growers Showcase (CGS) events, will provide “much-needed relief” for the state’s licensed cultivators, many of whom have a glut of product due to the supply chain imbalance between growers and dispensaries in the state.

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The CGS events allow New York’s cannabis growers and processors to showcase their wares to the public at events where consumers can purchase products from licensed retailers. A CGS event can take place in various locations, including standalone, temporary retail locations; licensed dispensaries; cultivators’ and processors’ licensed facilities; or other approved event spaces.