New York pot regulators vote to settle lawsuit stalling upstate dispensaries
New York marijuana regulators voted Tuesday to settle a federal lawsuit that has blocked them from granting dispensary licenses in the Finger Lakes region.
The settlement reviewed at a meeting of the Cannabis Control Board would remove a legal impediment that has slowed the growth of New York’s fledgling marijuana market. The state was sued last year by a company owned by a Michigan resident, who said New York’s retail license selection process unconstitutionally favors New Yorkers over out-of-state residents.
A federal judge in November issued a temporary injunction against the licenses being handed out in five areas around the state, including Brooklyn. But the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in March narrowed the injunction to the Finger Lakes area of upstate New York.