NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A Harlem business group filed suit on Wednesday to block a storefront leased by the state and slated to become a legal cannabis dispensary.
The 125th Street Business District Management Association is attempting to cancel the lease of a storefront at 248 West 125th Street, across the road from the famous Harlem landmark the Apollo Theater.
The lawsuit names the New York State Dormitory Authority, the Office of Cannabis Management and 246 West LLC, the building’s landlord.
The first batch of dispensary licenses were issued exclusively to people with former cannabis convictions, their family members or non-profits that support formerly incarcerated people.
The Dormitory Authority is the state’s public construction agency. It’s working to secure real estate to help the people granted licenses through the state’s equity program get on their feet.
This form of support is made particularly pressing due to large banks' reticence to give loans to cannabis businesses due to federal prohibition, as well as the disadvantages brought about by incarceration.
The lawsuit challenges one of only 15 properties secured by the state for dispensaries so far.
The business association argued the dispensary would bring crime and drug use to the area, and said the dispensary location was chosen without community input.
A Cato Institute study on the impacts of cannabis legalization concluded the changes had little impact on crime.
“Violent crime has neither soared nor plummeted in the wake of marijuana legalization,” wrote the researchers.
The lawsuit justified the business group’s concerns by pointing to robberies at illegal dispensaries that have sprung up in New York City as consumers wait for the licensure process to progress and a legal market to emerge.
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