Predatory investors undermine New York cannabis social equity

(This is a contributed guest column.To be considered as an MJBizDaily guest columnist, please submit your request here.) Kim Stetz (Courtesy photo)We can all relate to that sinking feeling when we find out something isn’t aligned with how we understood it.

In September 2022, my partner (Marq Hayes) and I applied for a Conditional Adult-Use Recreational Dispensary (CAURD) license that would allow us to open a recreational cannabis store (Brown Budda) in New York state.More than 900 other applicants also applied for the social equity CAURD licenses, an absurdly low turnout when you consider the number of arrests for marijuana-related incidents in the state.

Thirty-two of us in this first cohort were chosen to step into provisional status. ADVERTISEMENT Two-and-a-half years later, we are fully licensed with delivery operations underway, yet the municipality we are (Southampton) in seems to have cold feet about the whole thing and declared we need a special-use permit to operate our delivery program.

They are incorrect; we do not.We are obliging the Town Council by ceasing operations until they grant us a special-use permit to house cannabis in our world-class location that has been approved by both the state and town for a year already – and where we have a 15-year lease.

The current Town Council is not so psyched with their predecessors’ decision.When it comes to funding, we’ve entertained quite a few indecent proposals along the way – mostly from millionaires who have the means to fund us but want full ownership instead of loan interest or a reasonable share of equity.

So, when social equity is a part of the equation, is it business as usual? I should hope not.Indecent proposals, cannabis style The synopsis of the 1993 film “Indecent Proposal” tells the story of a young, married couple who see a way out of their financial woes when a billionaire proposes to pay them $1 million if the wife spe...