A New York Supreme Court Judge on Tuesday reversed his decision to partly lift an injunction, which would have allowed 30 cannabis businesses to move forward with their opening plans, and reimposed a hold on all licensing activity, the Times-Union reports. The reversal came after the court received an affidavit from Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) First Deputy Director Patrick McKeage that noted the 30 applicants had not completed all of the requirements to open their shops and were not “ready to open” as the OCM had previously stated.
In the ruling, Justice Kevin Bryant said the agency “submitted a list which, by their own admission, includes licensees who are still finalizing construction and whose post-selection inspections have not been scheduled or completed.”
“It is also clear that an unclear number of the sites have not been inspected ‘to ensure (the site) meets all the public health and safety requirements in the Cannabis Law and associated regulations.’ It is not clear to this court whether any of the 30 identified licensees have completed all post-selection requirements and inspections and it should be clear that those who have not, should not have been included on the list submitted to the court as set forth in the prior order.” — Bryant, in the order, via the Times-Union
The lawsuit, filed by four service-disabled military veterans, argues that OCM created a licensing system that runs afoul of New York‘s adult-use cannabis law and improperly limits initial licenses to people with cannabis convictions rather than a wider category of social equity applicants, including service-disabled military veterans. The lawsuit claims that the cannabis regulators overstepped their authority by creating the licensing category for people with convictions because that decision was not approved by the Legislature and that the decision violates the state constitution.
The injunction was first imposed on August 7 and was extended on August 18.
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