marijuana legalization

Parts of New York will be off limits to recreational dispensaries for the time being after an entrepreneur won a federal injunction against the state’s equity program.

A group of cannabis entrepreneurs in NY and NJ sent the Senate Majority Leader a letter Friday outlining the need for greater access to banking services.

Most of what’s being harvested for legal dispensaries isn’t attractive enough for “bag appeal” or potent enough to be sold for smoking.

"We want to show people that this is a positive thing,” said Ben Kovler, the CEO of Green Thumb Industries. “Lead with information: very clean look, tested, safe product."

Starting Thursday, 13 dispensaries opened to the 6.6 million New Jerseysans who are older than 21.

Some of the dispensaries seek to exploit loopholes in the state’s cannabis law to make the case that they’re operating legally. Others have thrown any pretense that they’re not really selling weed out the window.

Officials decided that the state’s medical marijuana companies are not quite ready to start selling their wares to the general public.

The acquisition will create the largest marijuana company in the United States by revenue. It’s part of a trend that some worry will squeeze out small producers.

“We acknowledge that if we want a different outcome for our equity entrepreneurs, we have to take a different approach,” said Chris Alexander, executive director of the state’s Office of Cannabis Management.

Roughly a third of the more than 1,500 municipalities in New York have opted out of allowing cannabis dispensaries and consumption sites.