The Albany Times Union is reporting that a State Supreme Court justice has reversed his order from last week that had allowed 30 retail cannabis store applicants to move forward.
Judge Kevin Bryant had issued an injunction two weeks ago preventing licensing of cannabis retailers to move forward pending the outcome of litigation that challenges the constitutionality of New York’s licensing process.
Bryant found that cannabis regulators had “failed to follow the clear language of the applicable legislation” that legalized cannabis when they veered from the plain language of the 2021 statute and created a program to award conditional retail licenses exclusively to applicants with past cannabis convictions.
His ruling noted that New York regulators continued their preferential licensing program, and even expanded it, in the face of mounting legal challenges asserting that it was unlawful and violated the constitutional rights of other “social equity” applicants, including minority- and women-owned businesses, as well as disabled military veterans.
Last week, Bryant agreed to allow those with pending applications and who met all licensing approvals prior to August 7 to go forward. On Friday, after reviewing court petitions from 30 of those applicants, he issued an order allowing them to continue on a path toward opening their retail cannabis shops.
But in a follow-up order Tuesday, after hearing additional arguments from attorneys for four service-disabled military veterans who challenged the fairness of state’s licensing system, Bryant reversed course and said the injunction will remain in place for all pending applications.
His order noted that state regulators had implied all 30 applicants were in the final stages of their application process and had met the requirements to open their stores. But an affidavit filed by the Office of Cannabis Management, noted that not all applicants had completed those steps.
The injunction shutting off the state’s cannabis retail licensing program was issued in response to a lawsuit filed earlier this month by four service-disabled veterans who accused regulators of unlawfully prioritizing applicants with prior drug convictions while excluding others. The state had asserted that regulators had the authority under the law that legalized marijuana to create a special class of licenses, but Bryant said in his ruling that there is a “significant likelihood” that they will lose that argument.
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