A cannabis venture owned by white men sued the state of New York this week alleging its legal cannabis program is discriminatory because it seeks to prioritize minority- and women-owned businesses and communities affected by marijuana’s criminalization, becoming one of two new lawsuits seeking to change the rollout of the state’s long-delayed legalization effort.
In a federal lawsuit filed last week, applicant Valencia AG claimed that the state’s “social and economic equity” (SEE) program to prioritize minority- and women-owned businesses unconstitutionally discriminated against white male applicants—even as the state has said the program is aimed at helping marijuana entrepreneurs from communities “disproportionately” affected by the historic criminalization of marijuana.
Valencia AG was ranked 2,042 on the state Office of Cannabis Management’s randomized queue of just over 2,200 applicants who applied before Nov. 17, all vying for a few hundred potential licenses.
Meanwhile, as first reported in the Buffalo News, four women applicants sued the Office of Cannabis Management in Albany County Supreme Court Monday over a footnote in the queue document that notes that an “extra priority” subset of SEE applicants received three chances in the queue—the women argue that policy had not been announced prior to the application period, and that had they known, they may have considered holding off until the next application period, which had less costly requirements for entry.
Joseph Levey, an attorney for the women, told Forbes that his clients are female SEE applicants who would be “ideal licensees” who did not qualify for the extra priority benefit, though they are not taking up the fight of a discrimination lawsuit at this time, instead focusing on this alleged undisclosed change in the rules, which Levey said would give his clients “the best shot to get some form of relief as quickly as possible.”
Both lawsuits are seeking injunctions that could hold up dispensary approvals until the cases are adjudicated, just months after the state settled to end an earlier lawsuit that alleged discrimination against disabled veterans that prompted an injunction.
The state’s Office of Cannabis Management told Forbes it does not comment on pending litigation.
Brett Schuman, a co-chair of the Goodwin law firm’s cannabis practice, told Forbes that the two lawsuits filed this week feature some contradictory points—one alleging discrimination favoring women and the other raising questions about the basis of a policy that gave less favor to women specifically. “Both things can’t be right. Both could be wrong though,” he told Forbes. Meanwhile, Fatima Afia, a cannabis attorney at Rudick Law commented on the Valencia lawsuit on LinkedIn, calling it “beyond offensive to anyone who understands the harms caused by the War on Drugs and who seeks an equitable industry.”
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