NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A federal judge blocked the New York State Office of Cannabis Management from distributing licenses to sell marijuana in Brooklyn and four other regions in New York on Thursday.
The injunction comes as part of an ongoing lawsuit by an out-of-state cannabis business that had its license application rejected on the grounds that it didn’t have strong ties to New York.
The first set of licenses are being distributed to people who have been impacted by war-on-drugs era cannabis convictions in New York — the convicts themselves or family members.
Variscite, a Michigan-based dispensary, did not qualify for a license as an out-of-state business.
The company’s owner, Kenneth Gay, had a cannabis conviction in Michigan, but only applicants impacted by a conviction in New York are being considered.
Gay’s lawsuit argues the restriction violates his business’ constitutional interstate commerce rights.
U.S. District Judge Gary Sharpe, a federal judge in Syracuse, blocked licenses in the five regions that Gay listed as preferred in his application — Brooklyn, the Finger Lakes, Central New York, Western New York and the Mid-Hudson.
The injunction will remain in place as long as the lawsuit is pending.
The OCM does not comment on ongoing litigation, but said the Cannabis Control Board — the body that governs the office — will move forward with plans to issue the first licenses on Nov. 21.
That means all applicants from the regions involved in the lawsuit will likely be excluded from the first wave of approval.
That will impact 63 of the 150 licenses the OCM had planned to approve, which were apportioned based on location.
The other four boroughs in New York City and Long Island were all spared this delay.
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