Approximately 18 months after passage of the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA)—which overhauled New York's medical marijuana program and was intended to usher in an adult-use market—New York finally appears to be on the verge of opening a limited number of recreational dispensaries in the coming months. Unlike New Jersey, which kicked off its own recreational sales earlier this year by allowing existing medical marijuana dispensaries to begin recreational sales as the initial phase of its program, New York has opted for a staged approach that puts social equity applicants at the forefront, even though the MRTA does envision a process for medical dispensaries to begin recreational sales at some point. The choice appears to be rooted in New York's desire to give dispensaries majority owned by social equity applicants—mainly individuals impacted by the war on drugs—a head start, before expected competition from better capitalized dispensary owners.

As a result of this choice, New York had to first set up a system of conditional licenses, at both the cultivation and processing level, to supply these dispensaries with product. At a recent event, Chris Alexander, the Executive Director of New York's Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), indicated that a full kickoff of New York's adult-use cannabis ecosystem won't occur until mid-2023. Mr. Alexander was specifically referring to cultivation and processing licenses, which would support the new market. If past is prologue, and New York repeats the process it went through with the social equity program, recreational dispensary licenses will not be awarded until the third or fourth quarter of 2023.