New York's legal weed miscues

New York's struggling legal cannabis market has hit another wall in the form of a judge's order that it must stop issuing new licenses and providing operational assistance for existing license holders.

Albany state Supreme Court Justice Kevin Bryant's directive came in a lawsuit filed by disabled veterans, who argued that the state Cannabis Control Board overstepped its authority in approving an initial so-called "Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary" license designed to benefit those who'd suffered from prior criminal penalties against marijuana.

We supported and continue to support the idea of having the burgeoning industry first benefit those most directly affected by the misguided prior criminalization of cannabis. Yet the plaintiffs in this case are absolutely correct that the plain language of the law established not one but five separate social equity groups, including those impacted by the old laws, but also minority and women-owned businesses, distressed farmers and service-disabled veterans.

The conditional licenses were issued in large part because the state couldn't get the standard, statutory licensing system set up fast enough and wanted to get the ball rolling under intense scrutiny from would-be entrepreneurs and the marijuana industry's many boosters, including the the New York Daily News Editorial Board. The CAURD may not have been explicitly authorized by law, but agencies routinely take discretionary regulatory steps to implement legislative intent, and the New York Legislature certainly intended the cannabis sector to get set up quickly.

All good there, except that this conditional licensing process for some reason excluded the other groups that had been explicitly mentioned in the law as equally high priorities for the first wave of licenses. Why? Who knows. Another shot in the foot by the state's cannabis control bureaucracy, which has stumbled along each step of the way.

While the suing veterans are right on the merits, it's also not clear how this order is going to help. They weren't missing out on some bonanza; more than two years after the cannabis law was approved, the Office of Cannabis Management and Cannabis Control Board has managed the approval of under 500 licenses, equating to just 17 dispensaries actually open statewide. Now no one gets to open up, not just vets. Ideally, the OCM will simply rectify its mistake and quickly open up conditional licenses for the other priority groups, mooting this lawsuit and keeping some of the already weak momentum behind the industry.

In any case, legal shops, whether run by nonprofits, justice-involved individuals, veterans or anyone else are at significant risk from the proliferation of the illegal shops, which have sprung up around the state and proved largely resistant to whatever weedkiller the state chooses to employ. We certainly welcome enforcement efforts, but flashy raids on unregulated businesses are only going to go so far when there may be as many as 4,000 of these scofflaws in NYC alone. Netting a few pounds of contraband at a single dispensary here and there only to watch it reopen days later is not going to cut the mustard.

Let's hope that broader-brush measures like fining landlords and bringing tax-evasion charges will start bearing fruit soon enough because otherwise the particular structure of the state's licensing scheme will be of little consequence as all regulated sellers are crushed by the competition of the black market.