Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary

CAURD licensees are the first retail dispensaries to open for legal adult-use cannabis sales in New York State, establishing businesses owned by justice-involved individuals at the bedrock of New York’s adult-use cannabis market. CAURD licensees are positioned to make New York’s first legal cannabis sales before the end of 2022, speeding the delivery of investments into communities across New York State that were impacted by the disproportionate enforcement of cannabis prohibition.

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Please be advised that the existing conditional license and the authorities granted under that license including processing and/or distribution, will not expire until a final decision has been made on your application for full licensure.

All conditional cultivator or processor licensees who have submitted their adult-use license application and application fee prior to the closing of the application window at 5:00 PM EST on May 3, 2024, may continue operations authorized under the conditional license while your application is being reviewed and processed by the Office, provided the licensee is in good standing with the Office. Nothing in this notice prohibits the Office from taking action against the conditional license pursuant to the Cannabis Law and regulations.

Conditional cultivator or processor licensees who did not submit an application to transition to a general adult-use license along with the full application fee by 5:00 PM EST on May 3, 2024, must cease all cannabis activity by June 30, 2024. The Office will be following up with those conditional licensees who are ceasing operations on further steps to close operations in the future.

Please note that when a conditional licensee transitions to a non-conditional license, a distributor license is required in order to sell cannabis products to a retail dispensary.  All distributor licensees are required to register with the Department of Taxation and Finance after receiving their distributor license. If you have already registered with the Department of Taxation and Finance under your conditional license, you will need to register again under your new distributor license.

Adult-use cannabis tax registration instructions

Thank you and please reach out to [email protected] if you have any questions.

Pursuant to Section 76 of the Cannabis Law, not less than thirty days nor more than two hundred seventy days before filing an application for licensure as an adult-use retail dispensary or registered organization adult-use cultivator processor distributor retail dispensary or an on-site consumption licensee, an applicant shall notify the municipality in which the premises is located of such applicant's intent to file such an application.

For more information and to begin the notification to municipalities process, please click the button below.

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As an additional requirement for licensure, certain TPI must complete a fingerprint-based background check. Please see the directions posted at.

The TPI who must be fingerprinted include:

• The applicant or licensee’s sole proprietor, partner (whether limited or general), member, manager, president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, officer, board member, trustee, director, or any person with an equivalent title to each of the foregoing, and their spouse;
• A stockholder of the applicant or licensee, other than a person owning 5% or less in the aggregate of a publicly traded company, and their spouse;
• Each person that makes up the ownership structure of each level of ownership for an applicant or licensee that has a multilevel ownership structure, and their spouse.

A fingerprint-based background check for each of these TPI must be received by the Office before a CAURD license can be awarded. Please initiate the fingerprinting process for these TPI as soon as possible to expedite your application’s processing.

Commercial Fingerprinting Procedures

Please use the button below to go to DASNY's (Dormitory Authority of the State of New York) website to learn more about the Social Equity Servicing Corporation, or CAURD "Social Equity Fund".

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