The State Cannabis Control Board has settled a lawsuit between the Office of Cannabis Management and Variscite NY One Inc.
The lawsuit filed by Variscite in September 2022 challenged how New York issued licenses for recreational cannabis dispensaries. That challenge resulted in a temporary injunction by a federal judge in November that prevented licenses from being granted in Brooklyn, Central New York, the Finger Lakes region, the Mid-Hudson region and Western New York.
In March, a ruling from the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals lifted that injunction except for the Finger Lakes region.
General Counsel Linda Baldwin informed the Control Board that if approved by a federal judge, the settlement would end a court injunction preventing the state from granting Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licenses to businesses in the Finger Lakes region, “The board has seen the confidential settlement agreement which will be filed later this week, which at that time will become public. But, one of the conditions of the settlement was to grant the plaintiff in that case, the one that had applied for a CAURD license, an adult use licence when those licenses become available. And those were terms we could agree upon in order to move forward with the full CAURD program.”
According to the Syracuse Post-Standard, the settlement would allow the OCM to fully launch the CAURD licensing program, but the state is also litigating a lawsuit filed by a coalition that includes some of New York’s medical cannabis companies. Plaintiffs in that case are asking a judge to compel state regulators to open up licensing for all retail dispensary applicants immediately.
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