I didn’t believe it at first either.
The word came in like smoke from an open alley. Whispers that something was off with the maps. Not the kind you find folded up in a glovebox, but the digital kind. Official. Regulated. Filed and stamped.
New York State’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), the agency responsible for overseeing cannabis licensing, had reportedly been using the wrong measurement standard when determining how far dispensaries were from “sensitive sites.” Mainly schools and houses of worship.
That number? 500 feet.
Pretty straightforward, right?
Except it wasn’t.
Turns out, regulators had been measuring the distance as the crow flies — straight-line distance. But according to New York’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Law (which cannabis law borrows from), the correct method is walking distance. Sidewalks, street corners, turns. The way a person would actually walk it.
The result? A miscalculation with consequences.
152 dispensaries were flagged for being out of compliance. That includes 88 in New York City alone.
Some shops hadn’t even opened yet.
Others were already up and running. Leases signed. Capital spent. Shelves stocked. And suddenly they were told they might have to move.
Let that sink in.
Cannabis Licensing Chaos in NYC: The Fallout Begins
The OCM issued a formal correction. And to their credit, they didn’t try to downplay the scale of the mistake.
They launched a legislative fix — Bill S.9452 — which, if passed, would remove the proximity requirement from retail dispensary law entirely and put zoning decisions in the hands of local municipalities.
Governor Hochul’s office even proposed a $15 million emergency relief fund. That money could help affected businesses relocate, renegotiate leases, or even defend themselves legally. Some might receive up to $250,000.
But is it enough?
Advocates and licensees have said the damage is deeper than the numbers suggest. One insider said, “$15 million is going to be a drop in the bucket” for the scale of economic harm involved.
Others are asking what took so long to discover the error.
And here is where things get murky.
What Dispensary Owners Need to Know Right Now
- The rule at the center of this storm is borrowed from liquor licensing laws
- Cannabis regulators interpreted it one way, but the law expected another
- 152 dispensaries were impacted: 105 with full licenses and 47 provisional licensees
- Correction came only after licensees raised red flags and did their own proximity checks
- The issue affects both active and planned dispensaries, including equity licensees
- Lawsuits are already surfacing
But beyond these points, we hit a wall. No clear timeline on how long regulators used the flawed standard. No breakdown of how many shops will relocate versus shut down entirely. No comment on who, if anyone, will be held accountable.
So, we’re left with questions.
And late at night, after poring over legal PDFs and press briefings, you start asking different kinds of questions.
Personal Reflection on a Broken System
After I closed the last browser tab and walked two blocks to clear my head, I passed three shops. One empty. One brand new. One with a “Coming Soon” banner flapping in the warm breeze.
Hard not to wonder which of them got that letter from the OCM.
What happens to a business that gets its dream yanked like that?
What happens to the employees? The customers? The neighborhoods that finally felt like they had a piece of the pie?
And what about the rule itself? Was it always this vague? Or did someone just move too fast?
At times like this, I wind down with something small that helps me think. Not to numb the story, but to sit with it. Let the puzzle pieces breathe.
Maybe my partner in crime? Ol reliable? Just a gentle 10mg gummy, from Green Gold. Enough to soften the noise while I play through the scenarios in my head.
You don’t have to see the whole picture to start asking the right questions.
Was this just a bureaucratic slip-up? Or something deeper in the system that’s only now being exposed?
And more importantly, what comes next?
What’s Your Take on the Cannabis Dispensary Relocation Crisis?
If you’re a shop owner, customer, or just watching this unfold from the sidelines, what do you make of it?
Send us a DM if you’ve got thoughts.
Because this one’s far from over.
And we’ll be watching.
Sources:
- https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/news/2025/07/29/ocm--152-cannabis-retailers-violating-state-law-for-proximity-schools--places-of-worship
- https://vicentellp.com/insights/new-york-state-ocm-issues-correction-on-dispensary-proximity-to-schools/
- https://www.cannabisbusinesstimes.com/us-states/new-york/news/15751742/new-york-cannabis-regulators-messed-up-dispensary-location-guidance-152-stores-impacted
- https://themarijuanaherald.com/2025/07/new-york-orders-152-marijuana-dispensaries-to-relocate-after-proximity-review/
