18 more retail marijuana licenses issued for Mid-Hudson Valley – Daily Freeman – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

KINGSTON, N.Y. — The New York State Cannabis Control Board issued a whopping 212 licenses for recreational pot shops throughout the state at its meeting Wednesday, including 18 licenses to companies and individuals looking to operate in the Mid-Hudson region.

The newest batch of licenses brings the total number of licenses issued statewide to 463 and represents the third significant expansion of the conditional adult-use retail dispensary license (CAURD) program.

With the latest round of licenses, the total number issued for the Mid-Hudson region rises to 44, significantly above the 17 licenses the Office of Cannabis Management had originally indicated it would issue for the region.

In March, Chris Alexander, executive director of the state Office of Cannabis Management, said that due to the overwhelming number of highly qualified applicants, the state was doubling the number of conditional retail licenses to 300 from 150 statewide, with the number of retail licenses in the Mid-Hudson increasing to 34.

Spokesman Trivette Knowles said Wednesday the most recently approved batch of licenses represents yet another expansion of the program, with another to follow.

“There will be one more round of licenses,” Knowles said, adding that there isn’t “necessarily a fixed number of licenses to be issued in that round.”

“This expansion is necessary to help prepare New York’s market for the next phase of adult-use cannabis,” said Alexander during Wednesday’s…