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Last month, dozens of cannabis businesses were told they were located too close to schools after state officials realized they had misinterpreted regulations.
Aug. 15, 2025, 6:00 p.m. ET
A group of cannabis dispensary owners sued New York State regulators on Friday claiming they could be forced out of business because their storefronts were too close to schools after state officials admitted recently that they had been incorrectly measuring the required distance.
Investors poured millions of dollars into dozens of cannabis shops that could now be forced to relocate or be barred from opening their doors because of the mistake by state regulators, the lawsuit claimed.
The suit, filed by about a dozen organizations and companies that have received licenses to open dispensaries in New York, petitioned the State Supreme Court in Albany to block the proposed correction to the proximity rule and find the businesses in compliance under the previous interpretation of the regulation.
“This lawsuit seeks to prevent the state from rewriting the rules midstream, stripping licensees of their rights and investments and derailing New York’s promise of an equitable cannabis industry,” according to the suit.
Last month, the state’s Office of Cannabis Management said that because of its own measuring error, more than 152 licensed dispensaries were too close to schools. State officials said that the businesses might have to relocate unless lawmakers carved out an exception allowing them to stay in place.
State law dictates that dispensaries cannot be located within 500 feet of a school, a distance that should have been calculated from the entrance of the storefront to the school’s property line, state officials have said.
