This post was originally published on this site.
New York’s Office of Cannabis Management is opening the application process for general licenses on Oct. 4, and the agency today released a 45-page document outlining details for prospective applicants.
Nearly two years after the Cannabis Control Board held its first meeting, Wednesday’s launch of general applications comes at a precarious time for New York’s legal cannabis industry. Only 23 of 463 Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary licensees have been able to open, and a current court injunction is keeping any more from coming online until a lawsuit is adjudicated.
Meanwhile, conditionally licensed growers and processors are struggling to sell their products, largely due to the lack of retail outlets.
The FAQ document, which is posted on the OCM’s website, covers everything from the application period to social equity prioritization to possible buffer zone issues. NY Cannabis Insider went through the paper, and here are some of the important points that stood out to us.
Basics
The application period begins Oct. 4 and runs through Dec. 4, 2023. During this time period, the OCM will accept applications for adult-use cultivator, processor, distributor, microbusiness, and retail dispensary licenses.
During this period, current conditional cultivator and processor licensees may apply to transition to permanent licenses.
The OCM, in the document, suggests that CAURD licensees may want to apply for a general license, due to a current court injunction preventing new CAURDs from opening. CAURDs will be required to pay application fees, OCM said, but the agency is considering waiving them in the future.
OCM officials have estimated the number of licenses they will award during this first round:
• Retail Dispensary: 500 – 1000
• Microbusiness: 220
• Indoor Cultivation (Tier 1): 20
• Indoor Cultivation (Tier 2): 20
• Processor (Type 1: Extracting, plus all activities of Types 2 and 3): 55
• Processor (Type 2: Infusing and blending, plus all activities of Type 3): 100
• Processor (Type 3: Packaging, labeling, and branding, including for the performance of white labeling agreements only): no limit but the agency will review on a rolling basis
• Distributor: 30
The OCM notes that these numbers are estimates, and says if the agency issues 1,000 dispensary licenses, it will likely take months for most of them to open their doors – which means licensing won’t immediately alleviate New York’s shortage of cannabis retail outlets.
Important things to know
Applications will contain questions about the prospective licensee’s business ownership, participation in workforce training programs the OCM has offered and operating activities. Social and Economic Equity applicants, as well as people who participated in OCM training programs (such as the Compliance Training & Mentorship program) will be prioritized for licensing.
To be considered for a final license, applicants will have to submit proof that they have control over a location at which they intend to run their business. However, applicants for retail or microbusiness licenses will be able to apply for a provisional license before finalizing a location. Provisional licensees have up to one year to secure a location and receive a final license.
Applicants for retail or microbusiness licenses who have secured a location can apply for an expedited application window, which closes on Nov. 3.
Other details
The OCM will not use a specific scoring system to rate applications, opting instead for a “queuing” system.
After an application window closes, applications will be queued (ordered) in their distinct pools using a randomized process … Applications will be reviewed until the number of licenses allocated for this application window have been issued. Therefore, an applicant’s queuing order is very important as those higher in the queue will be reviewed first.
General applicants will have to pay a non-refundable $1,000 application fee. Social and Economic Equity applicants must pay a $500 fee, but if an applicant cannot provide documentation to prove their SEE status, they will not be considered for licensure during this application period.
The OCM’s recently passed regulations for the industry sets buffer zones, which state that retail dispensaries cannot be located within 200 feet of a house of worship, 500 feet of a school building or school grounds, or within 1,000 (in communities with more than 20,000 residents) or 2,000 feet (in communities with fewer residents) of another dispensary.
According to the FAQ, if the office receives applications from two dispensaries that are located within the buffer zone of each other, OCM will license the applicant that’s queued higher.
The OCM plans to start the queuing process within two to four weeks of the application window closing on Dec. 4. Once regulators complete the queuing order, they will release results to applicants, and start reaching out to top-queued applicants for each licensing type.