We not too long ago examined the Workplace of Hashish Administration (“OCM”) scoring standards for eligible Conditional Grownup-Use Retail Dispensary (“CAURD”) candidates. Supplied sure minimal necessities are met, the highest scoring candidates who rank a given area as their first desire shall be chosen for a provisional license in that area– as much as the variety of allotted licenses in that area.
The foregoing is significant as a result of CAURD candidates can’t in any other case choose their very own actual property or area. As an alternative, areas are chosen by the OCM. This begs the questions: 1) what areas can I choose, and a couple of) how can I beat the competitors for my most popular area?
In the course of the software for a CAURD license, candidates are capable of choose as much as 5 (5) regional preferences from the fourteen (14) listed areas inside the State of New York for a dispensary location. The allocations for every area shall be introduced at a later date. The areas of New York State are: Bronx, Brooklyn, Capital Area, Central NY, Finger Lakes, Lengthy Island, Manhattan, Mid-Hudson, Mohawk Valley, North Nation, Queens, Richmond, Southern Tier, and Western NY.
Inside every area, candidates shall be ranked by scores, as described within the Scoring Standards detailed right here. The highest scoring candidates who rank that area as their first desire, as much as the variety of allotted or accessible licenses in that area, shall be chosen for a provisional license in that area.
Nonprofit provisional licensees shall be chosen solely from the highest scoring functions of this sort and won’t be blended with the enterprise standards candidates. The OCM additionally famous that due to the anticipated smaller variety of nonprofit licensees, these candidates shall be chosen inside solely two regional swimming pools: New York Metropolis and the remainder of New York State.
Within the occasion of a tie between candidates the place issuing a license to every applicant that had a tied rating would exceed the restrict on licensees in a given area, a random choice course of shall be used. The order during which candidates are randomly chosen shall be their closing choice sequence and can decide who’s granted a provisional license.
If a area doesn’t attain its CAURD license allocation in spite of everything candidates have been chosen for a provisional license based mostly on their first regional desire, then the highest scoring candidates who selected that area as their second regional desire shall be thought-about for a provisional license in that area. If crucial, third, fourth, or fifth regional preferences shall be thought-about till the area has reached its license allocation.
Within the strangest about-face because it pertains to the instantly previous paragraph, the OCM famous that the choice course of will prioritize assigning candidates to their first regional desire, even when meaning an applicant could be placed on a waitlist for a location in that area. Candidates on a waitlist for a location in a area will not be thought-about for choice in one other area the place they ranked decrease on their software.
It seems that candidates could stay on a waitlist for his or her high area as a substitute of being awarded their second ranked area. Hopefully the OCM will provide some readability on the distinction between being waitlisted for a first-choice area versus receiving a license in a second-choice area.
Keep tuned for any updates to the scoring standards or the choice course of because the OCM continues asserting their guidelines, rules, and choice course of.