NY’s 1st batch of marijuana shop licenses is doubling to 300

By JENNIFER PELTZ
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — New York is doubling the number of licenses it’s awarding for a first round of legal marijuana shops. Regulators announced Thursday that they plan to award 300 such licenses, rather than 150. Still, only a fraction of the recreational marijuana dispensaries already authorized have opened so far, and a court ruling has put licensing on hold in some areas. New York legalized recreational marijuana use for adults nearly two years ago and continues working to get its legal market into high gear. The first batch of recreational pot dispensary licenses is reserved for nonprofits or for people with both business experience and a personal or family history of marijuana convictions.