Gov. Kathy Hochul intends to establish a $200 million state money and a state-run incubator to assist social justice cannabis licensing applicants. One of the most apparent difficulties with the $200 million announced in the 2022 State of the State speech, according to Lauren Rudick, is that the fund is to be funded by money earned by the state’s cannabis program. The firm serves social equity applicants and small enterprises in New York’s adult-use market.
Rudick anticipates that her firm will submit hundreds of social equity Cannabis companies to demonstrate the application in the first round, which has not been slated to open for several months. Many of them will come from 64 Squares, a cannabis strategy firm that has collaborated with the Latino Cannabis Industry Association to create a program that will assist clients in establishing firms and relationships that would lead to investment in their communities.
We’ve all been waiting to see how the social justice measures in New York will pan out. It is one of, if not the, most progressive pieces of legislation in the country. It’s an exciting objective to grant 50 percent of all licenses to social justice applicants. However, it is only a goal; it is not a requirement. And this is critical for people to realize because they haven’t identified how they intend to reach that aim, so everyone is still suspect from a social equality standpoint. Many individuals are unaware of this distinction, which is critical because no one can promise anything regarding licensing.
According to Tremaine Wright, we are upbeat. This initiative appears to be led by the appropriate individuals. These are social equity and social justice reforming forces. But politics is politics, so we’ll have to wait and see how it plays out.
The program was mentioned in the MRTA [the state legislation that legalized marijuana] as something they would do to nurture and expedite. Still, people aren’t aware that the money comes from the program’s tax collection. So, we have a bit of a cyclical situation here in terms of chicken-and-egg. So, how are we going to empower these firms right away? How much longer must we wait before we have $200 million to reinvest in these neighborhoods and programs? We’ll take anything we can get, but I have the impression that there’s still a lot of work to be done to assist these firms to get off the ground.
It is made clear is that even if you do not meet the social inclusion standards in New York, social justice and local investment will be an essential aspect of anyone’s application. You may not fulfill the priority requirements, but you must exhibit diversity and a substantial community effect.
