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By: Ilana Siyance
A judge has banned NY regulators from awarding any new cannabis licenses until a decision is made on a disquieting lawsuit filed by four New Yorkers who formerly served in the US Armed Forces.
As reported by the NY Post, the lawsuit which was filed against Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration claims that officials favored convicted drug felons for the coveted cannabis licenses over disabled veterans. In response, on Monday Albany state Supreme Court Judge Kevin Bryant ruled that no further licenses to sell legal marijuana can be doled out till there’s been a resolution on the discrimination case. “Pending the hearing and determination of this application, defendants, their agents and employees are hereby restrained from awarding or further processing any more CAURD [Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary] licenses … pending further order of this court,” Bryant said in the order.
A hearing on the veteran’s lawsuit is scheduled for Friday. The suit alleges that regulators with the Office of Cannabis Management and state Cannabis Control Board failed to follow the New York’s Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA), which specifically lists disabled vets as one of five priority “social and economic equity” groups to be given at least 50% of opportunities in the advancing legalized pot industry. The five groups named in the 2021 act include: convicted felons of marijuana-related crimes, service-disabled veterans, women, minority-owned businesses and “distressed farmers.” “It feels like we were used to get a law passed — a good law, one that helps a lot of people, as well as the state,” said disabled vet Carmine Fiore, a plaintiff in the case, who served for eight years in the Army and National Guard. “Then, once it was passed, we were cast aside for another agenda.”
Steve Mejia, an Air Force veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq during his six years of service, said he felt betrayed. “I served in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom and ended up with cancer connected to my service. I sacrificed for my country and my state and swore to defend and protect its people and its laws,” said Mejia, who is another one of the plaintiffs in the case. “Now New York is refusing to honor its legal obligations to me.”
Per the Post, there are already 21 state licensed cannabis licenses doled out in the state, nine of which are in the city. The state’s first licenses were awarded to “justice involved” individuals or partners of felons convicted of selling marijuana, per the suit. Overall, the only disabled vets who were awarded a license in the first round, had partnered with someone with a marijuana conviction.
“From now until Friday and if the judge agrees, they [the vet plaintiffs] will have in effect stopped the entire retail market and prevent growing and showcases and new stores like ours from opening,” said Osbert Orduna, founder of the Queens-based The Cannabis Place delivery service. Orduna is a disabled vet who says he was able to obtain an early license because his business partner has a drug conviction.
