Albany\u2019s slow recreational cannabis rollout is leaving veterans behind, critics charge.
Advocates say Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s administration is discriminating against disabled military vets by prioritizing convicted drug felons when awarding licenses to sell marijuana \u2014 and possibly violating the very law that\u2002legalized the sale of cannabis in New York.
\u201cThe whole veterans community is in an uproar,\u201d said Carmine Fiore, chair of the Cannabis Association of New York\u2019s Veterans Committee and a disabled Army vet.
The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Action Act of 2021 that legalized the recreational sale of weed designated five \u201csocial and economic equity\u201d classes to get 50% of employment opportunities in the budding pot industry \u2014 covering those convicted of marijuana-related crimes and \u201cservice-disabled veterans,\u201d as well as women and minority-owned businesses and \u201cdistressed farmers.\u201d
But so far, the first 300 cannabis dispensary licenses\u2002have been set aside solely for applicants found guilty of a pot-related charge or related to someone swept up before the drug\u2019s legalization.
\u201cOnly criminal applicants have been allowed to apply,\u201d said Fiore, an FDNY emergency medical technician who served in the Army from 2008 to 2016.
Fiore said Hochul\u2019s administration \u2014 via the Office of Cannabis Management and state Cannabis Control Board \u2014 is passing over disabled vets and likely flouting the law by shutting them out.
\u201cThe OCM\u2019s actions are not only biased and discriminatory against veterans, they are also potentially illegal,\u201d he charged.
Fiore noted that OCM carved out a new \u201cjustice class\u201d last spring, creating the Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (\u201cCAURD\u201d) license for applicants previously convicted of marijuana-related offenses.
\u201cThis license category was not included in the MRTA language,\u201d he said, referring to the 2021 legalization legislation.
State officials have allowed ex-cons to \u201cleapfrog\u201d disabled vets under the special license, Fiore added.
While there could be overlap with other so-called social equity groups for the conditional licenses \u2014 such as women and minority applicants \u2014 disabled veterans are not included because individuals with drug convictions in most instances are ineligible to serve in the armed services, Fiore said.
He also said state officials eased the eligibility for the special licenses for ex-cons compared to the rules that apply to disabled vets and the other groups.
Disabled vets and women and minorities without a felony pot conviction must show that they have the finances necessary to operate and a lease secured for a property to open a weed dispensary.
But under the conditional licenses, ex-cons can be approved without money or a lease and obtain financing via\u2002a fund that would dispense business loans, Social Equity Impact Ventures, the group whose ownership included former\u2002basketball star Chris Webber. The financing program has largely been a bust, unable to raise the necessary funds to get the program off the ground.
The exclusion of disabled vets in getting the first licenses to sell weed is just latest controversy in the rocky rollout of the cannabis program.
An estimated 1,500 illicit shops are flourishing in the Big Apple alone by illegally peddling cannabis while not paying taxes, much to the chagrin of New York City Mayor Eric Adams\u2002and local law-enforcement officials. Meanwhile, only seven state-licensed marijuana stores have opened in the Empire State.
As part of ongoing state budget talks, the governor\u2002and Albany lawmakers are eying a crackdown on black-market weed sellers by dramatically increasing fines and making it easier to shut down rogue operators. Because of the current lenient penalties, illicit pot dealers got so brazen that they even opened up a shop right across from City Hall.
Lawmakers, meanwhile, are going to bat for the disabled vets, including state Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton (D-Staten Island\/Brooklyn), who chairs the legislative body\u2019s committee that oversees veterans services.
\u201cWe are concerned that the OCM is not following the MRTA as it is written,\u201d Scarcella-Spanton said in a draft letter to Hochul that was being circulated among state senators.
Scarcella-Spanton said the law does not specify that formerly incarcerated individuals with pot convictions would \u201creceive the right to apply [for cannabis licenses] before everyone else.\u201d
She urged Hochul to open up the pool of applicants to include disabled vets and cancel the special program that licenses only those previously convicted of pot offenses.
\u201cThose who have sacrificed to serve their country \u2014 especially those who have been injured because of their services or other worthy social equity groups \u2014 are currently being overlooked,\u201d Scarcella-Spanton said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n