Long Islanders may soon be able to share a joint with a fellow sports fan at the bar – or toke over trivia.
Dozens of cannabis lounges may debut on Long Island under rules proposed by state regulators Thursday. Plans for pot bars were included in guidelines written to cover nearly every aspect of the recreational marijuana market, from growers to distributors to industry event organizers.
Thursday was state regulators’ second pass at the regulations, which run more than 300 pages. The agency that approves cannabis policy, the Cannabis Control Board, first put forward rules for the recreational market in November. After reviewing 3,500 comments on the plan, the board proposed an approach that would more rapidly give New Yorkers alternatives to buying from illicit pot shops and consuming products in parks or other public places. Part of the new momentum would come from allowing the established, and mostly larger, medical marijuana firms to serve recreational customers within months, rather than forcing them to wait years, as previously planned. (Full Story)