BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — After being blocked by a lawsuit and months of waiting, four licenses have been approved for dispensaries in WNY.
"The approval of these licenses will help expedite building a robust and diverse supply chain while also ensuring that individuals that have been disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition have meaningful opportunities to participate in the industry," said Chris Alexander, Executive Director of the Office of Cannabis Management.
These licenses are given out to people with prior cannabis convictions, they're the first to get licenses statewide. The goal is for licensing to open up to everyone by the end of the year.
The licensees are:
- Aaron Van Camp- Owned by Aaron Van Camp in Buffalo
- AMSM LLC- Owned by Gina Miller and Glen Miller in West Seneca
- Flower City Shop LLC- Owned by Jamie Donato-Rivera and Phetnakhone Duangtavilay in Rochester
- Premier Earth Corp.- Owned by Joseph Wojciechowski in Buffalo
This comes less than a week after a federal ruling gave the green light for dispensaries locally, ending an injunction that blocked five areas from receiving licenses, including WNY.
"We were kind of on edge about it last week because it was such a short time frame for them to be able to get it going, so four is a huge win," said Aleece Burgio, General Counsel for MJI Solutions and legal expert.
Burgio estimates doors will open here sometime in early summer.
99 licenses were approved total, 13 in areas previously blocked. These shops can open by the end of this month. A lab in Rochester also received approval.
"At this point, you're gonna start to see it moving very quickly in my opinion. Hopefully, by the end of the year, you'll see the general applications being awarded as well," said Burgio.
The Cannabis Control Board also doubled down efforts to crackdown illicit cannabis shops, encouraging people to shop legal.
