To understand how can get a leg up on New York’s cannabis business licensing program, let’s take a quick look at what happened last year for cannabis in the State of New York. After recreational marijuana was officially legalized by the Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act on March 31, 2021, the state has slowly been pulling together its regulations and applications for adult-use cannabis license holders. Late last year, the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) put forth draft regulations governing its adult-use program. While OCM simultaneously opened Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) applications to get the state underway in sales, these draft regulations will become the standard for all future recreational cannabis licenses in New York.
According to a presentation the OCM gave recently, while these regulations have the potential to be finalized at the end of this first round of public comments on February 13th, sometime this summer is looking more likely. Directly following this round of comments, the OCM will take 60 days to review and update the regulations accordingly. The Director of Policy anticipates submitting the updated regulations for another 60 day comment period sometime between February 13th and mid-April. However, if the public comments offer minimum feedback, there’s a possibility the current regulations could be finalized without a second round of public comment.
OCM stated that their goal is to finalize and adopt these regulations by summer in order to proceed with accepting applications for licenses. All in all, as soon as the regulatory framework is in place, New York is set to begin accepting cannabis license applications THIS year. However, you can utilize the current draft regulations to understand some of the items we can expect to see on the applications. What does this mean for you? It means, you can get started NOW! It also means your competition has already been working on items in advance of the application round opening by utilizing the draft regulations. This is a great strategy that we use with our clients to get them ahead of their competitors prior to a licensing round.
If you’d like to get a jump on winning an adult-use license, Canna Business Services is here to help. Call us for a FREE 15 MINUTE CONSULTATION and let us support you in writing your New York cannabis license application!
