Jeffrey Hoffman is a New York City-based attorney who hosts “Ask Me Anything about Cannabis Legalization in New York” each week on LinkedIn. Hoffman and NY Cannabis Insider have partnered to bring those sessions into print in a Q&A format.
Hoffman’s practice focuses on cannabis industry clients, including licensees in the adult-use market, practitioners in the medical cannabis space, and cannabis adjacent product and service providers. He has a particular interest in social and economic equity cannabis license applicants, and he also informs and assists those convicted of cannabis offenses in getting such convictions expunged from their record. He can be reached at info@420jurist.com.
The following AMAs from Jan. 31 have been edited for length and clarity.
What’s going on with the cannabis zoning rules for dispensaries on Long Island?
The Cannabis Law preempts a lot of what localities can do related to zoning for cannabis. That said, the localities out on Long Island seem to have a reading comprehension problem. They’ve implemented all kinds of zoning rules which are probably illegal, and they are also just doing whatever they want in making up reasons to deny cannabis dispensaries the ability to open. “500 feet from a residential zone.” “It doesn’t matter if the school or church isn’t on the same street, we’re not doing it that way.” “We just don’t want you near a private business that will have kids there.” Nope. Doesn’t pass muster folks. My advice to the communities out on Long Island: get right by the law before you have to increase your property taxes due to all of your lawsuit losses.
Is there any positive news now that the Governor seems to be melting down?
She’s finally really paying attention. I was in the software dev industry, and one of our great maxims is: How does a software project become one year late? One day at a time! So how do you get thousands of Illegal stores in New York City? One day at a time! The Governor is now really paying attention, and we’re gonna find out how serious she is about dealing with this. I’m happy to help out - I’ll head up to Albany and we can have a sit down. We’ll talk cannabis, we’ll talk New York, we’ll talk about how you can really save this thing. How you can really turn it around. This is fixable, Governor Hochul. Let me know when you want to talk about it.
Can dispensaries in New York sell hashish?
Yes, regulated stores in New York are allowed to sell up to 24 grams of concentrate to a retail customer, and that could be 24 grams of hashish which was cultivated and processed in the state of New York.
What does the process look like when your cannabis application is under review in New York?
Once the OCM gets your application and cashes your check (they did allow credit cards in the last application round), the compliance and licensing teams review everything that you submitted. You will be notified of any deficiencies: do you actually qualify, is everything signed, is your lease really a lease, etc etc. Then they send you an email itemizing any deficiencies in your application, and you have 30 days to cure. If you successfully cure (or had no deficiencies), and everything else is in order and the licensing team is satisfied, you get the jackpot email which says your application “will be considered by the New York State Cannabis Control Board” at the next meeting.
Do you know when they’re going to release the queue for the December applicants?
The OCM completed the December queue on January 30. Their goal is to give out some of these licenses at the March meeting, so I’d imagine we’ll see the list in February.
Have you heard any updates on the non-dispensary delivery license?
We have all the regs for it, it just wasn’t available in this application round. I would anticipate it being in an application round later this year. That said, I hope they tweak the license because right now it’s not much more than UberEats for cannabis.
Any word on licensing for indoor grows?
There were 40 indoor grow licenses available in the application round that closed late last year, 20 tier one and 20 tier two. I anticipate they will be given out starting in March.
What are your takeaways from the Sunday press conference with Senator Gillibrand?
We need more events like that. I love everyone that showed up. I love everyone that’s putting any kind of political capital into this. That said, I don’t think it’s going to get done. The party that doesn’t move adult-use cannabis legislation is in control of the House, and I think they’ll be in control of the Senate and possibly the Presidency here in 12 months. So if you want to get something done, I suggest you do it quickly. Which means I don’t think you’re gonna get anything done.
How many retail stores do you project will be open by summer?
We will be in the low triple digits. I don’t know that the first digit will be a crooked number. Ask a baseball fan if you don’t know what that means.
When are you coming to Buffalo?
I owe Buffalo a visit. Nikki Lawley, the Queen of Medical Cannabis in New York, is out that way and I certainly owe her a visit. Maybe for the Insider’s event this summer.