A California-based medical marijuana company's effort to file an amicus brief in a medical marijuana lawsuit in New York should be rejected, the five medical marijuana companies that were recently awarded a license by the state argued in court documents.

The intervenors in the lawsuit, New York Medical Cannabis Industry Association v. New York State Department of Health, No. 2848-17—who were granted licenses to grow and sell medical marijuana in New York in August (NYLJ, Aug. 1)—filed a memorandum of law late last week in opposition to West Sacramento Management Group LLC's motion for leave to file an amicus curiae brief in the lawsuit against the state by the original five medical marijuana companies.

The New York Medical Cannabis Industry Association, a trade group composed of the initial medical marijuana companies, filed a lawsuit against the state in May arguing that allowing more companies to manufacture marijuana will cannibalize an industry that has struggled since its inception in 2016. Jennifer Kavney Harvey, a litigation partner at Albany-based Couch White, argued before the court earlier this month that the statute that created New York's medical marijuana program in 2014 caps the number of manufacturing entities at five but allows the health commissioner to create additional dispensaries (NYLJ, Sept. 12).