New York AG Letitia James asks Court to dismantle injunction to stop retail licensing

New York Attorney General Letitia James has asked the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to dismantle a federal judge's injunction to stop retail licensing.

James made a request for a permit from the New York Office of Cannabis Management, per Green Market Report.

Judge Gary L. Sharpe of the New York Federal District Court in Syracuse has imposed an order barring New York's retail cannabis dispensary application process in some state regions.

See also: How Much is Whoa, How Much? CA's Canabis Industry Owes A Quarter-Billion Dollars In Back Taxes

Sharpe wants New York state to wait for the resolution of a lawsuit filed by a Michigan-based company challenging the program's selection requirements before issuing the first batch of retail licenses for recreational cannabis.

Variscite Inc. brought a lawsuit against Los Angeles alleging that the city's social equity lottery was in violation of the dormant commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett said that the firm's request for an injunction of the lottery did not meet the standard of preventing irreparable harm. The arguments of plaintiffs that they will suffer irreparable harm are based on their speculation that they could enter the commercial cannabis retail market, Garnett wrote. The claimants' monetary losses associated with the challenged provisions are purely speculative and insufficient. Under its terms, the applicant is not required to have been a California resident at the time of the arrest. The compromise order was issued by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to give the Department of Justice a month to respond to a lawsuit about the legality of safe drug consumption sites. The Court expects the DOJ to clarify its position on safe consumption sites, according to Marijuana Moment.

Safehouse, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit that is trying to open a harm reduction center, said the case has been pending for almost four years. More than 3,600 lives have been lost in Philadelphia since the DOJ began this litigation in 2019 and ended up in the end of 2021 because of the opioid overdose crisis. According to Safehouse, that number will grow to more than 5,000 deaths by the year 2022, according to a Wednesday brief. Safehouse and those that need its life-saving services have waited a long time. The Harker Heights City Council overturned a decriminalization ballot initiative that was approved on Nov. 8, according to Marijuana Moment. By voting to repeal Prop A, the Harker Heights City Council sent a clear message to voters that they don't respect the will of the voters or the democracy they participate in, said Julie Oliver, executive director of Ground Game Texas, the organization that led reform initiatives in the state.

These anti-democratic politicians are trying to throw away the votes of more than 5,000 Harker Heights residents, but we won't let them, Oliver said. With this new referendum, Ground Game Texas will make sure that the will of voters isn't trampled on by their local elected officials. Long Lines Are Expected to be completed on January 10, Connecticut To Launch Adult-Use Cannabis Sales.