Health Law Advisor

New York State cannabis agencies and related individuals were served with a lawsuit from four New York veterans (Carmine Fiore, William Norgard, Steve Mejia, and Dominic Spaccio, collectively, the “Plaintiffs”) related to the cannabis market and licensing structure on August 2, 2023. The Plaintiffs are alleging that under the Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (“CAURD”) licenses, state officials have been favoring “Justice Involved” individuals over disabled veterans in the application process. Their lawsuit has thus far led to the issuance of a ...

Following an effort in the state legislature to legalize recreational marijuana, on July 29, 2019, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed S.6579A/A.8420 (the “Law”), a law decriminalizing marijuana possession in New York State. The Law will take effect on August 28, 2019. The Law expunges many past convictions for marijuana use and reduces the penalty for possession of small amounts (less than two ounces) of the drug from a misdemeanor to a violation.

Importantly, the Law does not legalize marijuana, and – relevant to this blog – therefore provides no employment protections for ...