New York state officials unveiled big marijuana news last week: Upstate New York’s first individually owned shop selling legal weed opened in downtown Ithaca.
But people who have followed the rollout of legal marijuana in the state may have a question about the opening of that shop, the William Jane dispensary at 119 E. State St., near the Ithaca Commons.
Since last fall, a temporary court injunction has prevented the state from awarding retail licenses in five regions of the state, including the Finger Lakes and Central New York. The injunction was issued in response to a lawsuit filed by an out-of-state cannabis operator who claims the state’s licensing rules violate the U.S. Constitution’s interstate commerce clause.
So how did Ithaca, which sits directly on Cayuga Lake and in the heart of Finger Lakes wine country, land a weed shop?
In this case, it turns out, New York state classifies Ithaca as being in the Southern Tier region. The court injunction, for now, doesn’t apply to that region, which most New Yorkers know primarily as the strip of counties along the Pennsylvania border that include such places as Binghamton, Elmira, Corning and Olean.
Many of the departments in New York state government define Ithaca and Tompkins County as being in the Finger Lakes. That includes the state Parks Department, which includes Ithaca area attractions like Taughannock Falls and Buttermilk Falls state parks in its Finger Lakes region. The state Transportation Department,…
