David Robinson
New York State Team
January 10, 2025
A group of marijuana dispensary owners on Thursday sued New York cannabis regulators for allegedly illegally allowing pot shops to open too close together.
The lawsuit, which joins other challenges to New York's recreational marijuana program, accused state cannabis officials of improperly approving licenses for marijuana dispensaries seeking to open within 1,000 feet of legal pot shops already granted licenses, court records show.
While the legal battle over pot shop proximity protections involves four dispensaries in New York City, it has implications for 1,068 marijuana businesses currently licensed statewide, including more than 200 across the Finger Lakes and Hudson Valley, according to a state database of adult-use dispensaries and medical marijuana providers currently open or licensed.
What the NY pot shop proximity lawsuit says
Four marijuana dispensary owners in Manhattan and Brooklyn alleged the state Office of Cannabis Management and other officials violated the state cannabis law and regulations that set a 1,000-foot buffer between legal pot shops, court records show.
These proximity protections are "essential to preventing market oversaturation, protecting businesses from unfair competition, and ensuring the viability of licensed dispensaries," the dispensaries argued in the lawsuit.
Weed shop crackdown: NY shuttered 1K illegal weed shops. Which closed in Hudson Valley, Rochester?
State regulators are allowed to grant waivers to the 1,000-foot buffers after reviewing applications based on several factors, including whether there is a "demonstrated need" for the shop, but the dispensaries claim regulators failed to properly conduct the review, according to the lawsuit, which was first reported by the Times Union.
State cannabis regulators didn't immediately respond Friday to a request for comment on the lawsuit, which seeks to halt the approval of licenses within 1,000 feet of the four pot shops as well as reimbursement of legal costs.
The names of the marijuana dispensary businesses that filed the lawsuit include Actualize Dispensary, Astro Management, L.O.R.D.S, and R&R Remedies, court records show.
A series of other lawsuits have challenged state cannabis regulators' approval of dispensaries for a variety of other reasons, including claims of discrimination related to social and economic equity measures.
How NY cannabis grew in 2024
After New York botched the initial cannabis industry rollout, state regulators last year cracked down on illicit pot shops and streamlined the approval process for legal marijuana dispensaries.
The state cannabis enforcement team conducted over 1,200 inspections of suspected unlicensed cannabis dispensaries from December 1, 2023, to November 1, 2024. These inspections resulted in the seizure of over $67 million worth of illicit cannabis products, state officials said Wednesday in a statement.
On Dec. 31, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the state's cannabis industry had reached $1 billion in retail sales, asserting the enforcement crackdown bolstered the legal marketplace. The state has also collected about $147 million in tax, fee, and fine revenue since April 1, 2023, she added.
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