CAURD licensees are the first retail dispensaries to open for legal adult-use cannabis sales in New York State, establishing businesses owned by justice-involved individuals at the bedrock of New York’s adult-use cannabis market. CAURD licensees are positioned to make New York’s first legal cannabis sales before the end of 2022, speeding the delivery of investments into communities across New York State that were impacted by the disproportionate enforcement of cannabis prohibition.
Please be advised that the existing conditional license and the authorities granted under that license including processing and/or distribution, will not expire until a final decision has been made on your application for full licensure.
All conditional cultivator or processor licensees who have submitted their adult-use license application and application fee prior to the closing of the application window at 5:00 PM EST on May 3, 2024, may continue operations authorized under the conditional license while your application is being reviewed and processed by the Office, provided the licensee is in good standing with the Office. Nothing in this notice prohibits the Office from taking action against the conditional license pursuant to the Cannabis Law and regulations.
Conditional cultivator or processor licensees who did not submit an application to transition to a general adult-use license along with the full application fee by 5:00 PM EST on May 3, 2024, must cease all cannabis activity by June 30, 2024. The Office will be following up with those conditional licensees who are ceasing operations on further steps to close operations in the future.
Please note that when a conditional licensee transitions to a non-conditional license, a distributor license is required in order to sell cannabis products to a retail dispensary. All distributor licensees are required to register with the Department of Taxation and Finance after receiving their distributor license. If you have already registered with the Department of Taxation and Finance under your conditional license, you will need to register again under your new distributor license.
Thank you and please reach out to [email protected] if you have any questions.
Pursuant to Section 76 of the Cannabis Law, not less than thirty days nor more than two hundred seventy days before filing an application for licensure as an adult-use retail dispensary or registered organization adult-use cultivator processor distributor retail dispensary or an on-site consumption licensee, an applicant shall notify the municipality in which the premises is located of such applicant's intent to file such an application.
For more information and to begin the notification to municipalities process, please click the button below.
As an additional requirement for licensure, certain TPI must complete a fingerprint-based background check. Please see the directions posted at.
The TPI who must be fingerprinted include:
A fingerprint-based background check for each of these TPI must be received by the Office before a CAURD license can be awarded. Please initiate the fingerprinting process for these TPI as soon as possible to expedite your application’s processing.
The New York State Cannabis Law sets out restrictions for individuals and entities with interests in businesses licensed by the Office of Cannabis Management (Office). The Cannabis Law creates a two-tier market structure for the Adult-Use Cannabis Program, whereby individuals or entities having any direct or indirect interest in a licensee authorized on the supply tier (cultivation, processing, distribution) are prohibited from holding any direct or indirect interest in a licensee on the retail tier (retail dispensary, on-site consumption, delivery), and vice versa. The Cannabis Law also includes prohibitions for individuals or entities with a direct or indirect interest in a registered organization or laboratory testing permit holder.
In contrast to the prohibition on holding any direct or indirect interest in licensed entities across the two tiers, the Cannabis Law allows for an individual or entity to have an interest in multiple licenses within the same tier, albeit with several significant restrictions which are designed to increase access, competition, and diversity of business ownership in the industry. The two-tier market structure fulfills the Cannabis Law’s intent preventing conflicts of interest, undue influence, and market concentration from taking root in the New York cannabis industry, and allows the New York cannabis market to develop around strong, independent licensing tiers, instead of the centralization and consolidation that has created barriers to entry in other legal markets for small and medium sized entrepreneurs, legacy operators, and other individuals and communities lacking access to capital.
The Office of Cannabis Management is tasked by the Cannabis Law to ensure compliance with the restrictions outlined above. It does so by requiring the disclosure of individuals and entities having certain interests in licensees. These disclosures are required when applicants apply for a license and when existing licensees make changes to their license.
