new york cannabis social equity fund

New York Recruiting Social Equity Fund Manager

New York is beginning its search for a fund manager for New York’s $200m social equity cannabis fund. In January of 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that New York is proceeding with the $200m fund (as contemplated in the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA)), with $50m of funds committed by the State and a

state cannabis regulation

Ten Recommendations for State Cannabis Regulation

Unfazed by the federal leadership vacuum on cannabis, states continue to roll out cannabis proposals and programs. A total of 34 states considered cannabis reform proposals in 2021. Another 32 proposals (some of them pre-filed in 2021) are up for discussion here in 2022. These proposals range from limited decriminalization measures to comprehensive, adult use

new york cannabis licensing

New York Issues First Adult-Use Cannabis Cultivation Licenses

Yesterday, April 14, 2022 marked a historic event for New York’s adult-use cannabis industry: during the eighth Cannabis Control Board (CCB) meeting, the CCB issued the first adult-use cannabis licenses. The licenses: 52 conditional adult-use cultivation licenses based on the conditional license type rolled out by the CCB and Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) earlier

new york cannabis tax

New York’s New Cannabis Tax Deductions

New York snuck a pretty significant tax break for cannabis businesses into its 2022 budget. The Revenue Bill included a state tax deduction for cannabis related business expenses that are currently disallowed by § 280E of the federal tax code. We have seen this strategy in other “canna friendly” states and it’s a welcome development.

new york cannabis real estate

New York Cannabis Real Estate Refresher

Real estate is on the forefront of many people’s minds with New York on the doorstep of adult-use cannabis applications. And for good reason: owning or controlling real estate will be a requirement for applicants (with some soon-to-be caveats for social equity applicants). We have fielded lots of calls from prospective adult-use cannabis applicants starting

new york cannabis social equity

Funding New York’s Cannabis Social Equity Fund

With little fanfare or advance notice, the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (“DASNY”) released a request for information (“RFI”) last month to determine interest and solicit information from qualified parties for an investment fund to finance “the establishment and development of adult-use retail cannabis dispensaries (“RCDs”)” for social and economic equity applicants.

new york conditional adult use retail dispensary license

New York’s Conditional Adult-Use Dispensary License

The creation of New York’s conditional adult-use retail dispensary license has made headlines. Although New York plans to issue only 50-100 of this new license type, the license type and its underlying rules and regulations is incredibly significant. Why? First, because the OCM and CCB have issued actual rules and regulations that will apply to

new york cannabis gift criminal

New York Cannabis “Gifting” — Criminal!

New York continues to crack down on unlicensed cannabis sales masquerading as “gifts” or “membership fees.” The Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) sent cease and desist letters a few weeks ago, which threatened substantial fines, possible criminal penalties, and “put[ting] your ability to obtain a license in the legal cannabis market at substantial risk.” Of

ada cannabis good guys litigation

ADA Cannabis Class Actions: Good Guy Edition

We’ve written about the need for cannabis companies to mind the Americans with Disabilities Act (the “ADA”) before, and, as evidenced by a recent filing against Good Guy Vapes Int LLC (“Good Guy”), the complaints haven’t slowed down. Cannabis company operators large and small should be aware of the growing trend of federal class action