NY Cannabis Board Approves First 52 Cultivation Licenses in State
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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that the Cannabis Control Board has approved 52 conditional cannabis cultivation licenses for adult use statewide. These are the first cannabis licenses granted in New York for adult use.
The approved licenses come from a pool of over 150 applications submitted to the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) after the application portal opened March 15.
Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
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Gov. Hochul said the OCM will continue to review applications regularly and will work to bring them to the board for approval as soon as possible.
“New York farms have been the backbone of our state’s economy since before the American Revolution, and now New York farms will be at the center of the nation’s most equitable cannabis industry,” Hochul said.
“I’m proud to announce the first adult-use cannabis cultivation licenses in the state, and I’m proud of the work that the Office of Cannabis Management and the Cannabis Control Board are doing to improve the sale of adult-use cannabis up and running as quickly as possible without jeopardizing our mission to help communities and individuals hardest hit by cannabis prohibition over the past century,” said Hochul, who is running for election in November.
The approved licenses also benefit the Seeding Opportunity Initiative announced in mid-March. The initiative prioritizes people with past cannabis convictions so they can obtain the first round of cannabis retail licenses for adult use cannabis – ahead of existing medical cannabis businesses.
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The policy is part of a concerted effort to ensure that the early business owners in New York’s projected billion-dollar marijuana industry will be members of communities impacted by the nation’s decades-long drug war.
This article originally appeared on Benzinga and has been republished with permission.
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