The first recreational marijuana retailers in New York will likely be located on Indian territory, with one tribe officially opening applications for prospective licensees on Monday.<\/p>\n
The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe stands to beat non-Indian competitors to the market by about a year. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed an adult-use legalization bill into law<\/a> in March, but state regulators are still being appointed and sales aren\u2019t expected to launch until 2022.<\/p>\n In an announcement on Friday, the tribe noted that it had passed an ordinance in June approving recreational cannabis legalization and establishing its own regulations. Adults 21 and older are now permitted to grow up to 12 plants for personal use, and the ordinance set up a licensing process for marijuana businesses.<\/p>\n Members of the tribe separately approved a resolution in 2019 expressing majority support for adult-use legalization<\/a>, as well as another proposal to establish a medical cannabis program in the territory.<\/p>\n\n \u201cUnlike other tribal territories, the Tribe\u2019s Adult Use Cannabis Ordinance provides eligible tribal members with the opportunity to help develop this new industry for the benefit of the community,\u201d Tribal Chief Michael Conners said<\/a>. \u201cTribal licensing builds upon our business community\u2019s history of keeping revenue in Akwesasne to support community programs and services.\u201d<\/p>\n Applications will be processed relatively quickly, with the tribe telling applicants who have already submitted a pre-clearance form that they will receive a status update within two weeks of submission. It\u2019s unclear when the first retails sales will launch.<\/p>\n \u201cWe continue to take this time to thank community members for contributing to the regulation\u2019s development, as well as for individual\u2019s patience in obtaining a retail license under tribal law,\u201d Tribal Chief Ron LaFrance said. \u201cTribally licensed cannabis retailers will have an opportunity to make their products available in advance of State licensed businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n Things aren\u2019t moving quite so expeditiously for New York as a whole when it comes to cannabis implementation.<\/p>\n Advocates and stakeholders were critical of Cuomo for delaying his appointments to key marijuana regulatory positions. But since his resignation, newly inaugurated Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) has made two key regulatory appointments<\/a> to oversee the state\u2019s cannabis market that have since been confirmed by the Senate.<\/p>\n Leaders in both chambers of the legislature have also recently announced their picks to serve on the Cannabis Control Board. The governor has two more appointments to make that will not be subject to Senate approval.<\/p>\n Because the process has been drawn out, however, one GOP senator wants to give local jurisdictions another year to decide whether they will opt out of allowing marijuana businesses<\/a> to operate in their area\u2014a proposal that advocates say is unnecessary and would create undue complications for the industry.<\/p>\n Under the law as enacted, municipalities must determine whether they will opt out of permitting marijuana retailers or social consumption sites by December 31, 2021. Sen. George Borrello (R) introduced legislation late last week that would push that deadline back one year.<\/p>\n Legalization activists aren\u2019t buying the argument, however. And while two more regulatory appointments still need to be made, they say that local lawmakers have clear guidance written into the Marijuana Regulation & Taxation Act (MRTA) that should effectively guide their decision-making on whether to accept cannabis businesses by the initial December 31 deadline.<\/p>\n Additionally, lawmakers aren\u2019t even expected to meet again before December 31, meaning that Borrello\u2019s legislation is not likely to have a chance to be enacted in time, though it could theoretically advance later and give localities more time to decide whether to ban marijuana retailers and consumption facilities after the current deadline lapses.<\/p>\n Separately, another senator filed a bill in July to create a provisional marijuana licensing category<\/a> so that farmers could begin cultivating and selling cannabis ahead of the formal rollout of the adult-use program.<\/p>\n Hochul has made clear that standing up New York\u2019s marijuana market is a priority, and she\u2019s been\u00a0working with leaders on how to move the process forward<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the interim before retail shops open, adults 21 and older can possess up to three ounces of cannabis or 24 grams of concentrates in New York\u2014and they can also smoke marijuana in public anywhere tobacco can be smoked<\/a>.<\/p>\n Adding pressure to get the market up and running is the fact that regulators in neighboring New Jersey\u00a0recently released rules for its adult-use marijuana program<\/a>, which is being implemented after voters approved a legalization referendum last year.<\/p>\n Biden Administration Asks Prisoners With Certain Federal Drug Convictions To Apply For Clemency<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post New York\u2019s First Marijuana Retail License Applications Are Now Being Accepted By An Indian Tribe<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The first recreational marijuana retailers in New York will likely be located on Indian territory, with one tribe officially opening applications for prospective licensees on Monday. The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe stands to beat non-Indian competitors to the market by about a year. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D)Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49903"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49903"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49904,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49903\/revisions\/49904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: New York\u2019s First Marijuana Retail License Applications Are Now Being Accepted By An Indian Tribe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"