The state Cannabis Control Board voted to settle two lawsuits that had been filed on behalf of cannabis industry stakeholders who accused regulators of violating the provisions of the 2021 law that legalized the drug, including prioritizing applicants with prior drug convictions while excluding others.
If the settlement agreements are approved by a judge, a restraining order that had shut down the state’s licensing program for more than 430 applicants will be restarted.
The litigation had further hampered New York’s struggling rollout of the retail cannabis industry and highlighted what the plaintiffs had alleged were unconstitutional changes made to the law by regulators after it was passed by the Legislature.
State Supreme Court Justice Kevin R. Bryant, in a ruling three months ago, 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.
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