Priority Pot Sale Licenses for New York Drug Law Convicts

The New York State Cannabis Control Board is giving the first crack at making a buck off legal recreational marijuana use to some of the people who got in trouble for using pot.

The Seeding Opportunity Initiative approved yesterday allows those with prior marijuana-related criminal offenses to be the first to apply for licenses to legally sell cannabis with products grown by New York farmers.

Under the program that is aimed to at least try to make up for the disproportionate  number of minorities and low-income residents jailed for minor marijuana offenses, applicants for licenses for dispensaries must have a background owning and operating a small business in addition to a prior cannabis-related criminal offense.

The Cannabis Control Board also approved a license application for hemp farmers seeking to grow adult-use cannabis this spring.  That program is called the “Adult-Use Conditional Cultivator License” and was signed off on by Governor Kathy Hochul last month.  The Board has designated next Tuesday, March 15 as the opening date for the application portal.

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Applications for the priority dispensary licenses will open this summer.

Information on dispensary licensing and applications for the growing license can be found here.