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Jeffrey Hoffman is a New York City-based attorney who hosts “Ask Me Anything about Cannabis Legalization in New York” each week on LinkedIn. Hoffman and NY Cannabis Insider have partnered to bring those sessions into print in a Q&A format.
Hoffman’s practice focuses on cannabis industry clients, including licensees in the adult-use market, practitioners in the medical cannabis space, and cannabis adjacent product and service providers. He has a particular interest in social and economic equity cannabis license applicants, and he also informs and assists those convicted of cannabis offenses in getting such convictions expunged from their record. He can be reached at info@420jurist.com.
The following AMA from Sept. 20 has been edited for length and clarity. Hoffman’s next AMA is on Oc. 4 at 4:20 p.m.
What do you think is going to happen with the CAURDs with the standard application opening up soon?
On the application mockup, there is a question asking whether the applicant applied for CAURD. So, clearly, OCM has something up their sleeve. The language folks are using is that the CAURDs will have to “reapply.” I’m not a huge fan of that language, so I’m using the term “perfect.”
Those of you familiar with doing UCC claims are familiar with the language “perfect a security interest.” These things are definitely not the same, but the general concept is “an additional filing that gets your paperwork where you really want it to be.” So that’s the language I’m using – the CAURDs are perfecting their application. We still really, really, really need to hear from OCM about this, but basically you go back, Jack, do it again, wheel turnin’ around and ‘round; you go back, Jack, do it again.
Thank you Steely Dan (track 1 on Can’t Buy a Thrill).
How do I get my social lounge concept in New York?
You either apply for a license or work with someone that has one.There’s one way now, and there’s another way that’s a little more ephemeral, but it’s coming.
So the way you could do it right now is you get a dispensary license. Either an open CAURD or someone applying in October. Dispensaries can have limited consumption spaces. The other way, when it eventually comes to us, is the standalone onsite consumption license in the law. My hope is that OCM is going to do something a little different with that than what they’ve already done with the dispensaries and really unleash the creativity of NY and especially NYC nightlife. This license is not available for the October application period, so we’ll just have to wait out OCM.
Will CAURD licensees get priority under the new licensing round?
While there is a checkbox about CAURD on the application mock-up, they certainly won’t get priority over the people that were supposed to get priority according to MRTA and then itemized on page 95 of the 344-page version of the regs.
First priority is conviction, low income, and lived a chunk of your life in a community most impacted (all three, the joinder is “AND”), second is distressed farmers, third is disabled veterans, fourth is lived a chunk of your life in a community most impacted (basically priority 1 without the conviction or the low income), and fifth is everybody else.
You will notice I did not mention women-owned businesses and minority-owned businesses which were specifically itemized in the law, so it will be interesting to see if this is susceptible to lawsuits. But as to CAURD, they almost certainly could not be prioritized ahead of the classes listed above.
What do you think about cannabis going from Schedule I to Schedule III?
It’s not RE-schedule. It’s not DE-schedule. It’s UN-schedule.
Will you be at NECANN in Albany?
Yes – I will be at NECANN and I’ll be speaking right after Dasheeda Dawson on Friday. And then I’ll be at a bunch of stuff in October before we hit the NY Cannabis Insider event in White Plains at the beginning of November.