Twelve legal cannabis licensees, including two in Queens, are suing the state Cannabis Control Board and Office of Cannabis Management after the agency abruptly reinterpreted a school-distance proximity rule, resulting in at least 152 applicants and licensees having to find new locations.
The OCM since 2023 had erroneously evaluated dispensary proximity based on whether a location was within 500 feet of a school building’s entrance, not the property line.
But, on July 28, the agency clarified that a dispensary cannot be within 500 feet of a school’s property line, and distance will be calculated from the entrance of a store to the nearest property line of a school’s grounds…