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NY’s incompetence leaves cannabis industry adrift
Just when you thought New York state’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad rollout of the legal cannabis industry couldn’t get any worse — it keeps getting worse!
A judge in Ulster County issued an injunction freezing the state’s licensing program while a lawsuit proceeds. Veterans are suing the Office of Cannabis Management over its decision to make them and other members of so-called equity classes wait while another equity class — people and communities harmed by the war on drugs — got first crack at applying for Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licenses.
State Supreme Court Judge Kevin Bryant was unsparing in his criticism of OCM.
“It was Defendants that decided to move forward and accelerate the CAURD program in the face of unresolved litigation and they were undeniably on notice of the alleged constitutional defects at issue,” Bryant wrote in his order. “Despite this notice, Defendants encouraged potential licensees to incur significant expenses in reliance on a program that Defendants knew was at issue in pending litigation.”
Bryant will allow 23 retailers who met all approvals before Aug. 7 to open — but that leaves 400 or so applicants in limbo while the injunction stays put. They have invested money in property, equipment and legal fees that, in many cases, cannot be recouped. Without retail dispensaries, cannabis growers have no place to sell their crops. The gray market for marijuana flourishes, untaxed and unregulated. And New York falls even farther behind other nearby states, which have launched their cannabis markets more quickly and cleanly.
How long does Gov. Kathy Hochul intend to let the cannabis program drift in a sea of incompetence, delay and unaccountability? The governor needs to clean house at OCM and appoint leaders who can right this foundering ship.
‘Spousal liability’ car insurance will cost you
New York already is the most expensive state in which to insure your car. A new, ill-conceived law adds $24 to $80 to the annual cost by automatically enrolling drivers in “supplemental spousal liability coverage” —even if you’re not married. Heck, you don’t even have to be a person; vehicles owned by businesses also are subject to the mandated coverage.
Say your spouse is driving and gets into an accident while you’re the passenger. You are injured. This new supplemental coverage lets you sue your other half for damages, including pain and suffering. That won’t help your marriage but is sure to be a bonanza for trial lawyers.
The Buffalo News reports that half of New York drivers are not married. Unless they opt out, they will pay for coverage that will not benefit them. The insurance industry warned Gov. Kathy Hochul about this — but she signed the bill anyway. And where were our “citizen legislators” when this law was being considered? Isn’t there an insurance agent in the chamber who could have headed off this trainwreck?
The good news is that you can waive this coverage — but you have to take affirmative steps to do it. Call your agent or watch for communications from your insurance company telling you how.
Albany lawmakers should fix this law to exempt businesses and to require drivers who want the coverage to opt in.
Workers from In My Father’s Kitchen and Housecalls for the Homeless worked against the clock to get Yves Trotman into the hospital before a deadly arm infection killed him.
Web of caring people catches a homeless man
Staff writer Marnie Eisentstadt’s story about the race to save a homeless man with a deadly, flesh-eating infection revealed an unseen network of caring people watching out for our most vulnerable neighbors.
They didn’t do it for applause, but we applaud them anyway.
This includes the friend of Yves Trotman, who short-circuited his suicidal intentions by hiding his drugs; advocates from In My Father’s Kitchen and the medical team from Housecalls for the Homeless, who persuaded him to seek care; medical and administrative staff at SUNY Upstate Medical University Hospital, who knocked down every barrier that would have discouraged Trotman from staying; and skillful treatment that saved his infected arm — and his life.
First, they had to persuade him that his life was worth saving. “”People look at us like we’re scum,” he told Eisenstadt. Most of us would have turned away. We’re grateful the people who helped Yves Trotman did not.
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