ALBANY, N.Y. — A New York decide has quickly blocked the state from issuing retail marijuana licenses after a lawsuit from 4 veterans who argue that regulators are wrongly prioritizing candidates with drug convictions.

New York Supreme Court Justice Kevin Bryant issued the momentary restraining order Monday halting the state from issuing or processing marijuana dispensary licenses.

The order is the newest authorized setback for the state’s fledgling marijuana market, which has been beset by a gradual rollout critics have blamed on a cumbersome course of designed to offer the primary spherical of licenses to individuals with prior drug convictions or to sure forms of nonprofit teams.

The lawyer common’s workplace, in a courtroom submitting, has cautioned that halting this system will financially harm retailers who're spending cash to arrange store beneath provisional licenses. The state shouldn't be anticipated to concern new licenses till at the very least September when a hashish regulatory board is about to satisfy, the lawyer common’s workplace mentioned in a submitting final week.

Oral arguments within the case are scheduled for Friday in Kingston, New York.

The veterans’ lawsuit alleges the state’s Office of Cannabis Management created a licensing system that's at odds with the state’s leisure marijuana regulation, improperly limiting preliminary licenses to individuals with drug convictions relatively than a wider class of so-called social fairness candidates.

The order halting the state’s program comes after regulators voted in May to settle a federal lawsuit that blocked them from issuing licenses within the Finger Lakes area. That swimsuit was filed by an organization owned by a Michigan resident who mentioned New York’s licensing system unconstitutionally favors New Yorkers over out-of-state residents.

Separately, state regulators final month accepted the sale of marijuana at festivals and different occasions after farmers complained that there aren’t sufficient authorized dispensaries within the state to deal with their harvests.

As the state’s authorized licensing program has stalled, authorities have begun to close down a glut of unlawful marijuana retailers which have cropped up as unlicensed sellers transfer to fill the vacuum.

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