New York Cannabis Application & Licensing

·        Population: 20.201 million (2020)

·        Median Income: $82,095

·        Largest Cities: New York City (8,804,190), Buffalo (278,349), Yonkers (211,569), Rochester (211,328), & Syracuse (148,620)

·        Adult-Use Cannabis Total Sales: $590.7 million (Sept 2024 YTD)

• General

• Social and Economic Equity (SEE)

  • 50% of adult-use cannabis licenses to social and economic equity applicants and ensure inclusion of:

    • individuals from communities disproportionately impacted by the enforcement of cannabis prohibition;

    • minority-owned businesses;

    • women-owned businesses;

    • minority and women-owned businesses

    • distressed farmers; and

    • service-disabled veterans

Cultivation

o   Any person who grows, clones, harvests, dries, cures, grades, and trims cannabis plants for the purpose of resale. A cultivator’s license authorizes the acquisition, possession, distribution, cultivation, and sale of cannabis from the licensed premises of the adult-use cultivator to a licensed processor.

Processor

o   Any person authorized to extract concentrated cannabis and/or compounds, blends, infuses, extracts, or otherwise manufactures concentrated cannabis or cannabis products for the purpose of resale. A processor license authorizes the acquisition, possession, processing, and sale of cannabis from the licensed premises of adult-use cultivators to licensed distributors.

Distributor

o   Any person who sells at wholesale cannabis and cannabis products for purposes of resale. A distributor’s license authorizes the acquisition, possession, distribution, and sale of cannabis products from the licensed premises of a licensed adult-use cultivator, adult-use processor, adult-use cooperative, microbusiness, or registered organization, authorized to sell adult-use cannabis to licensed retail dispensaries and on-site consumption sites.

Retail Dispensary

o   Any person authorized to acquire, possess, sell, and deliver cannabis products from the licensed retail dispensary premises to cannabis consumers. Retail dispensary operators can also become a Cannabis Event Organizer.

Microbusiness

o   Any person who may act as a cannabis producer for the cultivation of cannabis, adult-use processor, distributor, and retailer. A microbusiness license authorizes the limited cultivation, processing, distribution, delivery, and sale of their own adult-use cannabis products and cannabis. Microbusinesses can also become a Cannabis Event Organizer.

Delivery

o   Any person authorized for the delivery of cannabis and cannabis products by licensees  independent  of another adult-use cannabis license, provided that each delivery licensee may  have  a  total  of  no  more  than  twenty-five individuals, or the equivalent  thereof,  providing  full-time  paid  delivery  services  to cannabis  consumers per week under one license.

Nursery

o   Any person authorized for the production, sale and distribution of clones, immature plants, seeds, and other  agricultural  products  used  specifically  for   the   planting, propagation,   and   cultivation   of  cannabis  by  licensed  adult-use cultivators, cooperatives, microbusinesses or registered  organizations

On-Site Consumption

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.

Future application windows for licenses such as nursery, delivery, cooperative or collective, and on-site consumption are anticipated.

The journey through New York State Adult-Use Cannabis License Applications will have between 2 and 4 parts including:

1.       Primary License Application 

2.     Social and Economic Equity (SEE) Certification 

3.     True Parties of Interest (TPI) Disclosures 

4.    Location and Operations Section 

The applications contain general questions about your business, ownership, premises, and operating activities. In addition to their provisional license, individuals must provide the following requirements:

·        Business Plans with Pro Formas

·        Operational Plans

·        Safety & Security Plans

·        Quality Assurance Plan

·        Environmental Impact Plan

·        Recall Procedures

·        Testing and Record Keeping Procedures

·        Waste Management

·        Strategy & Execution of Plan

If your initial application is selected through the lottery, and has passed the review, you will be allowed to submit a provisional application. Provisional license applicants who have satisfied the requirements will be allowed to submit a final application for a license.

A True Party of Interest (TPI) in a CAURD license can have an interest in up to three adult-use cannabis retail dispensaries. Licensees, or any TPI of a licensee, cannot have a direct or indirect financial or controlling interest in more than three (3) CAURD licenses.

All TPIs in one licensing tier are strictly prohibited from holding any direct or indirect interest in another licensing tier. This is known as a vertical ownership restriction. The only exception to the above is for the micro-business license which allows for the limited production, manufacturing, distribution, and dispensing of the license holder's own product. Additionally, all licensees and their TPI are subject to horizontal ownership restrictions with respect to certain interest they can have in licenses within a particular tier.