Amid the expected revelry of bringing in the new year, New Yorkers will also have a clearer picture of where they might be able to buy and consume legal marijuana.
Dec. 31 marks the deadline of when cities, villages, and towns can opt-out of allowing licenses for either marijuana consumption lounges or retail dispensaries within their jurisdictions, according to New York’s cannabis law. Counties don’t have that option
And so far, about 400 municipalities have done so.
The localities were given the authority to adopt a law to withhold either or both of those licenses as part of the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, the state law approved in March that legalized the sale of recreational marijuana.
The communities are not allowed to opt-out of marijuana as a whole, as investors can still obtain other types of licenses, such as those for cultivation or delivery. But it would certainly mean that those localities would lose out on some tax revenues associated with the new legal market.
Still, weeks before the deadline, hundreds of localities across the state have chosen to completely opt-out of the two licenses in their communities, with some leaders voicing concerns about the lack of regulations passed down by the state’s Cannabis Control Board. Some communities have opted out of just one of the licenses.
The board had its first meeting in October. However, political infighting between former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and lawmakers over appointments to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority had slowed placements to the cannabis board.
Meanwhile, other leaders have used the option as a means of expressing their discontent with areas of the law they do not like, such as public consumption provisions.
Christopher Anderson, director of research and programming at the Association of Towns of the State of New York, said, “Some of the lessons to be learned from the practical application of retail cannabis sales are slow to disseminate,” leading some municipalities to move with “caution.”
Hundreds of communities opt-out, but more take no stance
As of early December, around 400 localities across the state have chosen to completely opt-out in their communities, according to the Rockefeller Institute of Government, the public policy research arm of the State University of New York.
The state has more than 1,500 municipalities. And around 900 localities have not made a “Yes” or “No” stance, meaning they will be opting in if they do not take further action by Dec. 31.
Heather Trela, director of operations and a fellow at the Rockefeller Institute, institute, said New York’s opt-out rate may fluctuate. But even if many more municipalities opt out of the two licenses, she said, buyers could still get marijuana.
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