A New York grant program that will award up to $30,000 apiece to retail marijuana businesses in the state is set to open its application process next week, with applications accepted until the program’s $5 million in funding runs out.
The grants are intended to reimburse eligible expenses of between $10,000 and $30,000 incurred by businesses licensed under the Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) program. To qualify for that program, an applicant has to have been “justice involved”—in other words, impacted by a marijuana-related conviction—and have some experience running a profitable business.
Expenses eligible under the program include commercial rent for the licensed business as well as improvements that fulfill state regulatory requirements, such as point-of-sale systems, inventory tracking, security hardware and installation, insurance and other related costs.
“The anticipated date for application availability is March 4, 2025″—this coming Tuesday, according to an information sheet published by regulators at the New York State Office of Cannabis Management (OCM).
It adds that awards “will be issued on a first-come, first-served basis until available funding has been depleted.”
To administer the grants, OCM’s one-page overview explained, “Empire State Development has entered into a contract with FORWARD, an experienced third-party service to administer the CAURD Grant Program, to award eligible CAURD licensees with vital funding to support their business operations.”
The document says more information will be available on the CAURD portion of OCM’s website. It also provides an email and phone number if prospective applicants have further questions.
Separately last month, a collective of businesses licensed under the CAURD program called on Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) to forgive tens of millions of dollars in high-cost loans issued under a governor-created social equity loan fund.
The businesses claimed that the loan program has “perpetuated many of the economic inequities it was designed to combat.”
Crystal Peoples-Stokes, the Democratic majority leader of the state Assembly and the author of the state’s cannabis law, said in December that there’s a need to extend financial aid to CAURD license holders, many of whom are struggling under the high-cost loans.
Other critics—including the NAACP New York State Conference, Black Cannabis Industry Association, Minority Cannabis Business Association, Service Disabled Veterans in Cannabis Association, Drug Policy Alliance, NYC NORML and VOCAL-NY—wrote to Hochul earlier that month to express dismay at what they described as marijuana regulators’ “efforts in service of big corporations at the expense of small business and equity outcomes.”
The advocates said at the time that since the departure of the state’s first chief cannabis regulator, Chris Alexander, last may May, state officials had demonstrated a “shift toward corporate interests at the expense of small business, justice-involved entrepreneurs, and Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licensees who are directly impacted by prior marijuana arrest.”
“We believe many of these knee-jerk changes in licensing review and failed commitments to equity,” they wrote in the letter, “stem from a lack of experience and exposure to cannabis market development and regulatory licensing regimes, as well as a poor demonstration of a commitment to lead the agency according to the goals set out” in New York’s adult-use cannabis law, known as the Marihuana Regulation and Tax Act (MRTA), which was signed into law in 2021.
Earlier this month, regulators also launched a new resource meant to connect licensed marijuana businesses with banks that are willing to work with the industry, even as federal prohibition continues to pose barriers to financial services.
OCM’s Cannabis Banking Directory initially listed 10 financial institutions that say they’re servicing marijuana businesses and are open to new clients as New York’s market expands.
“This initiative is part of the Office’s strategic efforts to reduce regulatory barriers and improve financial stability for cannabis businesses,” OCM said. “The lack of accessible, compliant financial services has long been a challenge for licensed operators, complicating essential operations and transparency.”
In 2023, the governor signed legislation that aims to make it slightly easier for financial institutions to work with state-licensed cannabis clients.
The law authorized OCM to provide financial institutions with information about marijuana business licensees or applicants, which is meant to ease compliance with reporting requirements. Licensees and applicants would first have to consent to information being shared.
Meanwhile, a recent budget proposal from Hochul aims to empower police who claim to smell marijuana to force a driver to take a drug test—a plan that’s drawing pushback not just from reform advocates but also from the state’s Assembly majority leader and the governor-appointed head of OCM.
