By: Mario Mancini
As laws change and evolve and the use of marijuana becomes decriminalized, the state of New York is looking to see how it will manage the newborn legal retail marijuana industry.
Many lawmakers want to see populations that have been disproportionately affected by strict marijuana laws benefit from these changes and initiatives. In order to make sure the local businesses and communities can flourish, the bigger marijuana companies, particularly ones already involved in the medical marijuana trade, must be regulated.
The New York Times reports that the fee to obtain a license for operating a marijuana store must be fair so that local business owners can compete with the big guys. One suggestion is to have the fee linked to the future potential profits of the business. Grace Ashford writes, “The medical marijuana industry has its own ideas, of course, including making the license fee reflect the value it will bring to a license holder, which would depend on the eventual size and success of the new legal market. Instead of one large lump sum, the industry has pitched a structure where the fee would be payable over time.”
Industry leaders have also suggested tying a portion of the fee to their own revenue, which they say would put industry and regulators on the same team, supporting the medical marijuana program. That reflects their view that New York needs to help make itself attractive to the industry if it wants to build a thriving legal market — and clamp down on an illicit market that has become increasingly visible.”
Ashford goes on to say, “The money from the 10 large medical marijuana licensees will go to bolstering their new, smaller retail competitors. In interviews along the way, I have joked that it’s sort of like a Robin Hood scenario, but consensual.
The intent behind this is the foundation of New York’s cannabis law, which aims to use legalization to right some of the wrongs caused by years of disproportionate enforcement of the drug laws. Specifically, the law promises to give 50 percent of cannabis licenses to what it calls “social and economic equity” candidates — women, minorities, distressed farmers, service-disabled veterans and people from communities impacted by the war on drugs.
The premiere retail marijuana license, according to The New York Times, will go to to qualify, candidates must have been convicted of a marijuana-related offense (or have a close family member who was) and have run a profitable business for the past two years, among other things.
The state has also issued “professional cultivation licenses” to hemp farmers to ensure that smaller retail shop won’t have to depend on the medical marijuana dispensaries they are competing against for supply.