As part of its plans to usher in its first marijuana retail outlets, New York regulators are set to approve a set of rules that will prioritize people with prior marijuana convictions or those whose family members have been harmed by criminalization. The move will place them in the first round of adult-use cannabis retail license holders—ahead of existing medical cannabis businesses.
The policy is part of a concerted effort to assure that early business owners in New York's projected billion-dollar marijuana industry will be members of communities that have been affected by the nation’s decades-long war on drugs. The policy sets New York apart from other legal cannabis states that promised equity but rarely delivered.
