A recent court hearing has led to the continuation of a pause on new cannabis dispensary licenses in New York, which is now expected to last for at least another two weeks.
This decision comes in the wake of a lawsuit asserting that state regulators showed unconstitutional bias toward those previously affected by marijuana prohibition laws when awarding the first set of dispensary licenses.
State Supreme Court Justice Kevin Bryant, who previously issued a temporary restraining order preventing the distribution of new licenses, refrained from giving a ruling on Friday. Instead, he scheduled the next court appearance for Aug. 25.
This move essentially prolongs the restraining order and anticipates a significant legal dispute concerning the program’s constitutionality.
The lawsuit, filed by a group of service-disabled veterans, argues that during the initial stages of the legal marketplace, the state’s cannabis regulators were in violation of the state Constitution by exclusively awarding licenses to entrepreneurs impacted by past marijuana legal actions.
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