420 with CNW — New York Medical Marijuana Companies Sue State Regulators Over Licensing Implementation
A coalition of medical marijuana companies in New York is suing state cannabis regulators over licensing implementation provisions that prioritized social equity applicants. Most states with legal cannabis markets have included social equity and justice provisions that seek to compensate members of communities that were disproportionately affected by cannabis prohibition. In cases such as New York, this involved giving people with certain prior cannabis criminal records or their relatives priority access to the license application pool. The Coalition for Access to Regulated & Safe Cannabis argued in its lawsuit that cannabis regulators overstepped their legal authority by limiting the initial…