The Bronx Cannabis Hub Condemns the Office of Cannabis Management’s Stunning Betrayal of Cannabis Equity 

Policy Reversal on Dispensary Distancing Threatens to Destroy Livelihoods and Dismantle Equity Goals 

NEW YORK, NY – The Bronx Cannabis Hub today condemned the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) for its abrupt and destructive reversal of the long-defended standard for measuring distance between cannabis dispensaries and schools. The policy change threatens the viability of nearly 200 retail licensees across the state, many of whom have invested their life savings based on the state’s original rules.

The Hub demands the OCM immediately reverse its new interpretation, which contradicts the Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act’s core mission of building an equitable cannabis market that repairs the harms of past marijuana prohibition. In response to yesterday’s decision, Damian Fagon, Director of the Bronx Cannabis Hub, issued the following statement:

“The OCM was created with the express mission of building pathways to prosperity for those criminalized by marijuana prohibition, not to pull the rug out from under them. This decision is not a benign technical change; it is a stunning betrayal of public trust that will cause immense and immediate damage to the very people the OCM was established to support. As one of our cohort members told us today, ‘this will break us. We cannot afford to move to another location.’

“The State’s cannabis law was designed to reinvest in communities disproportionately harmed by policing. This reversal does the opposite, forcing small business owners to spend money they don’t have to move established locations or shut down entirely. It effectively punishes licensees who followed the state’s own guidance, creating a new bureaucracy that harms the pioneers of New York’s legal market.

“This decision methodically dismantles the framework for cannabis equity in New York. It follows a clear pattern of punishing people who have already borne the impact of criminalization. New York’s cannabis law was meant to end that legacy, not recreate it. We demand that the OCM reverse this destructive decision, and the Hub will explore every available option to defend our members from this injustice.”

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