My educated guess that 90% of the money went to middle men/women, “enablers”, consultants who helped themselves to the cash and now the business owners are left with the bill and the state is to be blamed. They shouldn’t have been so loose with their money and they shouldn’t have let all the parasites anywhere near the money
The NY Times
State lawmakers approved $50 million to help the program, known as the Cannabis Social Equity Investment Fund, begin leasing and renovating stores that were supposed to open the following year. Just 22 of the 150 planned stores have opened under the program, and some owners now say the state lured them into a debt trap. New York has since allowed about 300 more dispensaries to open without the assistance, and they have helped to push total sales to over $1 billion.
But the deal to set up the fund also contained a catch that largely went unnoticed until now.
Once cannabis licensing fees and sales taxes began generating enough revenue, the state would claw back its investment. Only after it was repaid would the money trickle down to programs that were intended to deliver the promised benefits of legalization, including by investing in communities battered in the decades-long war on drugs.
The provision has come to light as the governor’s budget proposal indicates that she plans to recoup the state’s funds. Lawmakers and activists who pushed for legalization say the plan goes against the state’s intention to uplift low-income Black and Latino neighborhoods where the vast majority of marijuana arrests have occurred.
Joseph W. Belluck, a lawyer who leads the state panel steering some of the cannabis revenue to affected communities in the form of reinvestment grants, said the timing couldn’t be worse as Republicans led by President Trump move to slash federal aid and destroy equity programs.
Read the full report at
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/04/nyregion/cannabis-marijuana-hochul.html
