New York regulators last week issued the first 36 marijuana retail licenses for an adult-use market that officials insist will open by year’s end.
That timeline took a positive turn when the state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) announced it would allow qualifying businesses to launch delivery services before opening their retail stores, a significant change from other recreational markets, according to MJBizDaily.
“This will help jumpstart sales and enable these small business owners to generate capital and scale their operations,” the regulatory agency tweeted Monday.
New York adult-use retailers are projected to generate $1 billion-$1.2 billion in sales next year, growing to $2.2 billion-$2.7 billion by 2026, according to the 2022 MJBiz Factbook.
Regulators said 28 of the retail license winners went to individuals with marijuana convictions or family members who’d been arrested for cannabis.
The other eight licenses went to nonprofits.
The first group of Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) license winners include:
- Capital District Cannabis & Wellness.
- Essential Flowers.
- Kush and Kemet.
- Gotham CUARD.
- NYCCABUDS.
The agency is reviewing 903 CAURD applicants, the state’s version of social equity, to issue the first 150 adult-use licenses, as well as helping them lease and fund operations through a proposed $200 million social equity cannabis fund.