A preliminary injunction has been issued against the New York state Office of Cannabis Management over a lawsuit filed by veterans surrounding the state's cannabis licenses. 

This prohibits the office from issuing or processing any new cannabis licenses, except for any licensees who met all the criteria for licensing before Aug. 7.

The lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court by four veterans claims the Office of Cannabis Management unconstitutionally established a process that made a prior marijuana-related conviction a requirement. 

In a statement, the service-disabled veterans said they look forward to working with the state and the court to open the program to all eligible applicants.

"From the beginning, our fight has always been for equal access to this new and growing industry," they said. "We believe in a robust, accessible, and thriving adult-use cannabis sector for New York State and today's decision-by correctly recognizing the irreparable harms we are facing through the Board's and OCM's failures to follow the law-will help put the State back on track toward achieving this goal. OCM has resoundingly failed to create the legal cannabis market envisioned by New York's Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA), in large part by keeping licenses out of the hands of service-disabled veterans and other minority groups the law prioritizes. Every day that the adult-use program was limited to only the CAURD program was another day the MRTA-designated priority groups and New York State farmers were left out in the cold. We remain steadfast in our responsibility to fight for all the social equity priority groups being overlooked right now by the OCM through the CAURD program.

We look forward to working with the State and the Court to open the program to all eligible applicants."

Spectrum News 1 has reached out to the Office of Cannabis Management for comment, but have not heard back.