NEW YORK — Eager, anxious and frustrated, Yuri Krupitsky is waiting to find out whether he’ll get to open one of the first legal recreational marijuana shops in New York state.
He wrangled a lengthy application to become one of about 900 hopefuls for a first round of 150 licenses, only to face new uncertainty from a court ruling last week. It temporarily blocks the state from greenlighting dispensaries in Krupitsky’s home turf of Brooklyn and some other regions.
Meanwhile, unauthorized pot shops have cropped up in droves.
Stores openly selling marijuana can now be found throughout New York City, operated by people who shrugged at licensing requirements.
“It’s unfair competition,” Kuritsky said. “Everyone’s just saying, ‘Sit around and wait,’ and in the meantime, I see shop after shop, and they’re making their money. I’m sitting around waiting to do it the right way.”
Under pressure to launch one of the nation’s most hotly anticipated legal marijuana markets, the state Cannabis Control Board on Monday is to consider awarding some dispensary licenses to entrepreneurs and nonprofit groups — a major step that comes as cannabis regulators stress that they’re trying to stop unlicensed sellers.
“There cannot be a legal, regulated market operating side-by-side with an illegal market — it undercuts the goals of the state’s Cannabis Law to protect public health and build an equitable market that works to undo the harms caused by the disproportionate enforcement of cannabis prohibition,” Office of Cannabis Management spokesperson Aaron Ghitelman said in a statement.
New York legalized recreational use of marijuana in March 2021 but is still in the process of licensing people to sell it.
It reserved its first round of retail licenses for applicants with marijuana convictions or their relatives, plus some nonprofit groups. It also planned a $200 million public-private fund to aid “social equity” applicants.
Officials even set out to find, design and renovate storefronts for the for-profit entrepreneurs, who have to sublet a state-designated space and repay the refurbishing costs.
Ten teams of design and construction firms have been chosen, and the state is talking to landlords about dozens of locations. About 20 are undergoing preliminary design assessments, said Jeffrey Gordon, a spokesperson for the state’s construction arm, known as DASNY. To pay for it all, the state has seeded the…
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