Search Site   
Current News Stories
Illinois city hosted 2 tractor events in June
Trump says he’s not planning to extend a pause on global tariffs beyond July 9
UT students helping put agriculture in space with seed experiment
USDA announces plans to build, operate $8.5 million New World screwworm sterile fly dispersal facility in Texas
Kentucky program of analysis ensures safe farm products
Beef business plan for the remainder of the year
Tennessee governor proclaims July as Beef Month in state
Dairy producers win as lower feed prices continue
Tips on how to manage ‘grass gone wild’ after excess rain
When life breaks down, call on God: A real-life reminder of His faithfulness
When black raspberry season ends, intense Dog Day heat often follows
   
News Articles
Search News  
   
New York judge told court fight could hurt cannabis farmers
 
Albany, N.Y. (AP) – A court fight that has prevented New York from awarding marijuana dispensary licenses in some parts of the state could wind up hurting small farms that just harvested their first cannabis crop, officials warned a judge.
New York has issued its first 36 licenses for dispensaries, which will become the only places in the state where recreational marijuana is sold legally.
The state, though, has had to delay plans to authorize scores more dispensaries because of a legal battle over its licensing criteria.
U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe in Albany blocked the state from issuing licenses in Brooklyn and swaths of upstate New York after a company owned by a Michigan resident challenged a requirement that applicants demonstrate “a significant presence in New York state.”
In a court filing, the state asked the judge to loosen that injunction to prevent jeopardizing a marijuana harvest worth an estimated $1.5 billion, now waiting to be distributed to retailers.
“If the farmers, who were already issued cultivating licenses, have nowhere to sell their crop, they will lose the millions of dollars that have been collectively invested in their businesses, some may lose their businesses, and they will otherwise be forced into the predicament of either watching their crops rot and expire or selling them on the illicit market,” Assistant Attorney General Amanda Kuryluk wrote.
The court filing, made on behalf of the state’s Office of Cannabis Management, suggested that the company challenging its exclusion from the applicant pool, Variscite NY One, would most likely only be considered for a dispensary in the Finger Lakes region in the state’s center.
Blocking the state from approving licenses in four other regions including central and western New York, the mid-Hudson and Brooklyn, would cause “significantly more harm than necessary,” the state argued.
It was unclear when Sharpe might rule on the request.

12/6/2022