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N.Y. CAN Law § 72

This is the official text of N.Y. CAN Law § 72, part of New York’s CAN Law — part of the compiled statutory law of New York, published by the state as "CAN Law." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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Adult-use retail dispensary license

Official statutory text

§ 72. Adult-use retail dispensary license. 1. A retail dispensary\nlicense shall authorize the acquisition, possession, sale and delivery\nof cannabis from the licensed premises of the retail dispensary by such\nlicensee to cannabis consumers.\n 2. No person may have a direct or indirect financial or controlling\ninterest in more than three adult-use retail dispensary licenses issued\npursuant to this chapter.\n 3. No person holding a retail dispensary license may also hold an\nadult-use cultivation, processor, microbusiness, cooperative or\ndistributor license pursuant to this article or be registered as a\nregistered organization pursuant to article three of this chapter,\nexcept for such organizations licensed pursuant to sections\nsixty-eight-a and sixty-eight-b of this article.\n 4. No retail license shall be granted for any premises, unless the\napplicant shall be the owner thereof, or shall be able to demonstrate\npossession of the premises within thirty days of final approval of the\nlicense through a lease, management agreement or other agreement giving\nthe applicant control over the premises, in writing, for a term not less\nthan the license period.\n 5. With the exception of delivery or microbusiness licensees, no\npremises shall be licensed to sell cannabis products, unless said\npremises shall be located in a store, the principal entrance to which\nshall be from the street level and located on a public thoroughfare in\npremises which may be occupied, operated or conducted for business,\ntrade or industry.\n 6. (a) No premises with a license issued pursuant to this section, or\nsection sixty-eight-a of this article, or section seventy-three of this\narticle that allows for the retail sale of adult-use cannabis, shall be\nlocated on the same street and within five hundred feet of a building\ncontaining a school.\n (b) No premises with a license issued pursuant to this section, or\nsection sixty-eight-a of this article, or section seventy-three of this\narticle that allows for the retail sale of adult-use cannabis, shall be\nlocated on the same street and within two hundred feet of a building\nexclusively occupied as a house of worship.\n (c) The measurements in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subdivision are\nto be taken in straight lines from the center of the nearest entrance of\nthe premises sought to be licensed to the center of the nearest entrance\nof such school or house of worship.\n (d) For purposes of this subdivision: (i) The word "entrance" shall\nmean: (A) a door of a school regularly used to give ingress to students\nof the school; (B) a door of a house of worship regularly used to give\ningress to the general public attending the house of worship; or (C) a\ndoor of the premises sought to be licensed regularly used to give\ningress to customers of such premises.\n (ii) A door which has no exterior hardware, or which is used solely as\nan emergency or fire exit, or for maintenance or delivery purposes, or\nwhich leads directly to a part of a building not regularly used by\nstudents of the school, the general public attending the house of\nworship, or customers of the premises sought to be licensed, is not\ndeemed an "entrance".\n (iii) If the school, house of worship or premises sought to be\nlicensed is set back from a public thoroughfare, the walkway or stairs\nleading to any such door shall be deemed an entrance; and the\nmeasurement shall be taken to the center of the walkway or stairs at the\npoint where it meets the building line or public thoroughfare.\n (e)(i) For purposes of paragraph (b) of this subdivision, a building\noccupied as a house of worship does not cease to be "exclusively"\noccupied as such by incidental uses that are not of a nature to detract\nfrom the predominant character of the building as a house of worship.\n (ii) Such uses include, but are not limited to: (A) the conduct of\nlegally authorized games of bingo or other games of chance held as a\nmeans of raising f
this subdivision, a building\noccupied as a house of worship does not cease to be "exclusively"\noccupied as such by incidental uses that are not of a nature to detract\nfrom the predominant character of the building as a house of worship.\n (ii) Such uses include, but are not limited to: (A) the conduct of\nlegally authorized games of bingo or other games of chance held as a\nmeans of raising funds for the not-for-profit religious organization\nwhich conducts services at the house of worship or for other\nnot-for-profit organizations or groups; (B) use of the building for\nfund-raising performances by or benefitting the not-for-profit religious\norganization which conducts services at the house of worship or other\nnot-for-profit organizations or groups; (C) the use of the building by\nother religious organizations or groups for religious services or other\npurposes; (D) the conduct of social activities by or for the benefit of\nthe congregants of the house of worship; (E) the use of the building for\nmeetings held by organizations or groups providing bereavement\ncounseling to persons having suffered the loss of a loved one, or\nproviding advice or support for conditions or diseases including, but\nnot limited to, alcoholism, drug addiction, cancer, cerebral palsy,\nParkinson's disease, or Alzheimer's disease; (F) the use of the building\nfor blood drives, health screenings, health information meetings, yoga\nclasses, exercise classes or other activities intended to promote the\nhealth of the congregants or other persons; and (G) use of the building\nby non-congregant members of the community for private social functions.\n (iii) The building occupied as a house of worship does not cease to be\n"exclusively" occupied as such where the not-for-profit religious\norganization occupying the house of worship accepts the payment of funds\nto defray costs related to another party's use of the building.\n (f) No renewal of a license shall be denied because of the\nrestrictions in paragraphs (a) or (b) of this subdivision.\n (g) When evaluating an application for compliance with this\nsubdivision, the proximity of the premises sought to be licensed to a\nschool or house of worship shall be determined based on the date such\napplicant submits its location to the office.\n

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.