The Licensing Window for all cannabis licensing types, other than Type 3 Processing (White Labeling – Packaging and Labeling Only), is now closed. New licensing opportunities are expected in late 2025. However, Global Go can assist with both ongoing operations and asset light entry.

Since the beginning of 2024 the OCM has issued over 1,100 license permits, including retail dispensaries, cultivation, processing, microbusiness, and distribution. This is in addition to allowing several medical licensees to sell into the adult use market space. The intent, OCM Policy Director John Kagia noted, is for the agency’s licensing staff to work through all of the 1,850 November queue applicants before getting started on the 5,024 that were submitted by Dec. 18.

There appears to be no retail license cap or stopping point at this point.

Licensed Operators: Next Steps After the OCM Lottery Results

With the application window behind us, it's time to focus on the next phase. Those that have already successfully applied, all OCM priority lottery results are now announced. Applicants must wait to be contacted by the OCM at the email address they registered with their application. It is advised that Applicants and their registered “True Party’s of Interest” (TPI) check their emails daily for updates, as a failure to timely reply to an OCM identified application deficiency might cause the chosen Applicant to be passed over for one with a lower lottery number.

If you haven't secured a property yet, that should be your primary objective while waiting for your license. Some applicants needed to provide proof of property ownership or a lease with their application. However, retailers, type 3 processors, and microbusiness applicants weren’t required to submit property details, meaning the competition for cannabis real estate could still be tough.

Otherwise, next steps include:

Perfecting your Application – OCM application reviewers will contact applicants whose applications are under review of any minor outstanding issues (i.e., incomplete “TPI” disclosures). Applicants will then have a 30-day period to correct those issues. Other applications will continue to be reviewed, so there is a chance that not resolving these issues quickly will result in the applicant not receiving their license.
Stage 2 Licensing – Once an applicant receives their paper license, they are then required to pass physical location inspections prior to operating. This not only includes the actual standing up of the physical location, including security, construction, local permitting, etc., but also updating the OCM with any additional funding, TPI disclosures, non-exempt business contracts, etc. While the regulatory timeline for meeting these requirements is extensive (2-years), New Yorkers don’t have to be told that time is money. The quicker you resolve these issues, the quicker your business will become profitable.
Business Relationship Building – Whether it’s setting up supply chains, contracting with support vendors and service contractors, or meeting investors for expansion, a successful business is based on building relationships with other businesses. These relationships, and the cost savings or niche opportunities they create, are what will differentiate businesses to their customers. In the highly competitive New York Cannabis Industry, who you know may determine which businesses thrive and which fail.

So while these hopeful cannabis entrepreneurs have completed the initial steps in the NY cannabis application process, they now still must race to the finish line to both secure their license and open in an already competitive cannabis market. The most successful businesses aren’t the ones that spend the least, but that spend the smartest. Cannabis businesses must spend wisely while capitalizing on their once in a lifetime opportunity to be the first legal store in a given area. Outside services that either significantly speed up market entry, staff training, or that lower compliance overhead can be a force multiplier that all cannabis operators should consider.

What’s Next for New York?

Director Kagia said the OCM will have five key policy priorities in the months ahead:

Growing the legal New York cannabis market.
Rolling out new programs like seed-to-sale tracking.
Bringing legacy customers and businesses into the legal trade.
Engaging more stakeholders such as municipal governments to help in all of this.
Setting the state up to complement eventual federal marijuana reform.

Global Go specializes in cannabis licensing and applications (99% win-rate over 350 applications), compliance automation, advanced analytics, SOPs, training, mergers and acquisitions, new product launches, technology, and best practices. Seize this opportunity and position yourself as a leader in the New York market by reaching out to a Global Go Application Director today!

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