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The New York State Office of Cannabis Management hosted a “Get Ready, Get Set,” workshop to provide community members with vital information about the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA) and the conditional adult use retail dispensary (CAURD) licenses at the Schenectady Public Library on June 8, 2022. Key takeaways from the meeting include:

  • CAURD eligibility requirements: people with a previous cannabis conviction in NYS or their eligible family members or non-profit organizations serving justice involved people.
    • Convictions must have occurred before March 31, 2021
    • The justice involved person(s) applying must own at least 51% of the proposed cannabis business.
    • The justice involved person(s) must be able to prove their conviction and place of residence at the time of the conviction.
    • The justice involved person(s) must have experience owning at least 10% of a business. You do not have to currently own the business – but you have to prove that you did at some point.
    • Must be able to show the business had at least two years of net profits – while you were the business owner.
  • Timing Updates: OCM anticipates that it will begin accepting licenses for CAURD licenses opening at the end of summer, and applications for the licenses available under the MRTA at the end of the year.
  • Planning to issue 150 CAURD licenses, which is a small number of the overall licenses that will be available.
  • Conditional licensees will receive extra support through the Social Equity Fund, which will provide fully built out dispensaries to CAURD licensees. CAURD applicants have no choice of dispensary location. The OCM is contemplating locating 50% of the dispensaries upstate and 50% of the dispensaries downstate.

Watch the meeting here: