'Wasn't a mistake': Ex-OCM chief says Hochul approved cannabis regs under fire

OG Article By Kate Lisa

Augest 8, 2025

Gov. Kathy Hochul's office and other state agencies originally signed off on a cannabis rule that's come under fire for allowing hundreds of dispensaries to operate too closely to schools or houses of worship, the former head of the state Office of Cannabis Management said.

Chris Alexander, OCM's former executive director who left the agency more than a year ago after the governor removed him from office, said Hochul has unfairly blamed him for the fallout of her administration's decision to change the state's interpretation of cannabis law in measuring the required 500 feet between a dispensary and schools or houses of worship.

"This wasn't an oversight; it wasn't a mistake — it was a choice," said Alexander, now the executive director of the NAACP’s state conference. "Because if we had conducted a measurement in this particular way, there wouldn't be space for dispensaries in much of the city."

Dozens more businesses could be impacted by the change that don’t know it yet.

State cannabis regulators notified over 150 cannabis businesses and licensees on July 28 that their licenses cannot be renewed because they're too close to schools or houses of worship.

But the number of impacted businesses is expected to be higher. Many licensees said the change in policy is expected to also include day care centers, nursery schools, part-time after-school programs, and other facilities where children are cared for.

"There's schools, child cares, day care centers everywhere," said Matt Robinson, director of the Cannabis Retail Alliance of New York. "And of course you always have to protect the kids, but business owners need some protection as well."

Matt Robinson owns Legacy Cannabis & Weed Dispensary in Colonie, but his shop isn't impacted.

He said he's heard from licensees who say OCM incorrectly notified them that they were on the list.

Other shop owners who were told they have a dispensary too close to a school said they cannot find the violating facility on OCM's online map for applicants to find potential locations.

OCM said the map is a helpful tool, but has limits because of database issues beyond the department’s control.

"There's going to be more than just that first 152," Robinson said. "Once the OCM does a really thorough review and really starts looking into this, the numbers are only going to go up. And that's going to be more hurt people and more impacted dispensaries."

OCM continues to assess how many businesses will be impacted.

"The Office of Cannabis Management recognizes that prior leadership made decisions with the intention of streamlining licensing and expanding location opportunities for entrepreneurs, particularly in densely populated areas," OCM acting executive director Felicia A.B. Reid said in a statement. "While those intentions may have been well-meaning, they resulted in an agency practice that conflicted with the clear letter of the law. OCM’s regulatory responsibility is plain: The agency must follow the law to ensure the long-term stability and health of the legal market, and to protect the Cannabis Regulation & Taxation Act's social and economic equity goals."

Alexander said he's confused by the change, which could cause New York’s entire legal cannabis market to collapse.

"This policy, if effectuated, will collapse in New York's cannabis market — period," he said. "There's not going to be a location for these people to move to. It's unrealistic."

Hochul's office and several top aides from the state Budget Division and Department of State approved OCM's regulations in June 2023, including the rule to measure to a school entrance instead of its property line.

The regulations were reviewed over a year-and-a-half process, including public comment, and various presentations to local municipal boards across the state that the governor's office participated in.

"We developed the rule, it was brought to everybody, it was assessed by everybody multiple times," Alexander said. "It wasn't a secret."

But Hochul won't stop placing the onus on Alexander for the state's miscalculations, and making a change that sent dozens of retailers into chaos.

"He wrote it, so he knows the law," Hochul told reporters earlier this week. "The way it was applied by an individual, which surprisingly is the individual who wrote the law... applied it in a way that followed what the State Liquor Authority does."

Senate Finance Committee chair Liz Krueger, who helped author the 2020 law that legalized recreational cannabis, agrees Alexander shouldn't be blamed for the problem.

"When everyone keeps going 'The previous OCM administration got it wrong,' I don’t think they did anything in isolation or independent from the full state government review process," she said. "It appears the state believed they were doing exactly what they were allowed to do in the regulatory framework and nobody skipped any steps, and nobody kept any thing hidden."

OCM said the department is not directing impacted license holders to close or move their business, and they do not need to change their current business plans, according to guidance sent Wednesday to the initial list.

OCM and Hochul's office have both said they're working on a legislative fix, like grandfathering existing businesses under the old rules.

Osbert Orduna's license to operate The Cannabis Place in Queens will expire in October — or before session resumes in January.

He said a recent OCM advisory intended to give retailers a grace period if their licenses expire isn't enough to legally protect shops to stay open.

"Our banks require us to have a valid license in order to bank with them," Orduna said. "Our insurance company requires us to have a valid license in order to have an account with them. New York State Workers' Comp requires us to have a valid license in order to have a policy. Our landlords and many leases indicate very clearly that you have to have a valid license to operate. So these are just a handful of ways their solution is not a solution because it will not give us a valid license."

Sen. Krueger said there’s no reason for an emergency session, nor for cannabis stores to panic they’ll be forced to close.

Extensive litigation is expected to be filed against the state over the confusion in the coming weeks, but Krueger said a court could find the state’s original interpretation was within the purview of state law.

“The court could say there’s no reason to change anything and none of these licenses approved through a multi-step review process are in violation of the law, hence, you don’t need legislative change,” Krueger said. “So do we need to go back for an emergency special session? I don’t think so.”

Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, who also sponsored the CRTA, said she learned of the issue two weeks ago.

“The previous OCM administration attempted to do the right thing with regard to public input," Peoples-Stokes said Thursday. "However, legislation can be changed, and the vast majority of colleagues that I have spoken to are in full favor of a legislative fix, and the legislative fix will be agreed to and no licensees will be harmed in the process.”

At least six people familiar with conversations between Hochul’s office and OCM say the governor directed top staff in April to research and work on issues with the proximity rule.

The Cannabis Control Board passed a resolution March 20 to address a problem where schools or houses of worship opened too close to a location months after an application was submitted.

A spokesperson with Hochul's office denies such meetings took place this spring during budget negotiations, and the governor didn't learn about this until after session ended in June. A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie both said legislative leaders were not notified of the issue until late July.

Gov. Hochul's office deferred all questions to OCM.

“OCM has been listening to impacted businesses and communities coming out of this proximity correction and understands their challenges," Reid said in a statement. "That engagement is driving the agency’s collaboration with Gov. Hochul and the Legislature to address the issue. We will keep working to support impacted businesses, strengthen market integrity, and safeguard the industry from future vulnerabilities.”