New York Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensaries (CAURD) Application Window to Open on August 25, 2022

by Omar Figueroa and Andrew Kingsdale

August 16, 2022

On August 15, the New York State Cannabis Control Board (“CCB”) announced at its meeting that the long-awaited application window for Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) Licenses would open on August 25th.  The CAURD application period will open for only thirty (30) days.

As we previously described here and during our CAURD webinar, CAURD applicants must satisfy two primary eligibility criteria:  1) be “justice involved,” a term meaning that the person (or the person’s guardian, parent, spouse, or dependent) had a marijuana-related conviction prior to March 31, 2021, and 2) that same person also had at least ten percent ownership interest in a “qualifying business,” meaning a business that had a net profit for at least two of the years the business was in operation.

If you have any questions about whether you or a friend of family member qualifies to apply for a CAURD license, please refer to the Office of Cannabis Management’s CUARD resource page, and feel free to reach out to our firm.

At the August 15 CCB meeting, the CCB also noted that, thus far, it had approved 223 Adult-Use Conditional Cultivator Licenses, and it considered another batch of 19 licenses, all of which were approved.

The CCB also considered 15 applications for Adult-Use Conditional Processor Licenses, all of which were also approved.

Additionally, the CCB approved Emergency Laboratory Testing Regulations in order to provide an immediate pathway for the New York Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) to launch the application process for cannabis laboratories.  On a related note, the CCB granted approval for the OCM to launch an application for laboratories interested in conducting medical and adult-use cannabis testing and for sampling firms to collect samples for laboratory testing.

Finally, the CCB announced that the long-awaited application window for Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) Licenses would open on August 25, 2022.  The CCB noted that at its last meeting, it had approved the CAURD regulations and the CAURD application.  The regulations have been filed in the state register and became effective on August 8, 2022.

Several informational events were announced as well:

The CCB also publicized a CAURD web site which contains helpful information, including a virtual toolkit featuring videos and a FAQ for applicants.

The site can be located at:

https://cannabis.ny.gov/CAURD