by Tony Gray
posted 30 December 2021

WHITEHALL, NY --- When the clock ticks midnight Friday, the chance for municipalities to opt out of marijuana shops or on-site consumption lounges will go up in smoke. Neither the village or town have enacted local laws prohibiting them so 2022 could see a marijuana dispensary in Whitehall.

"The Village did not opt out of the Marijuana dispensaries and consumption sites," said Village Clerk Stephanie LaChapelle. Town officials did not immediately return calls for comment but no notice of a meeting to pass such a local law has been posted so, unless the Town Board met in secret, the town has not opted out either.

Granville and Greenwich are the only two municipalities in Washington County that passed local laws that said 'NO' to marijuana dispensaries and consumption lounges. The Town of Hampton split on the issue. It did not oppose dispensaries but did opt out of consumption lounges.

When former Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act(MRTA) in March, he started the process to allow New Yorkers to legally buy, sell and grow small amounts of marijuana. The regulatory structure for cultivators, dispensaries and lounges is still a work in progress that is not expected to be final before Winter 2022.

Legislation signed by Gov. Cuomo in September made possession of small amounts of personal marijuana legal. Private citizens can grow small amounts of pot for personal consumption and store some at home, as long as they take reasonable precautions to keep it secure.

Perhaps as early as next Winter, a storefront near you may be offering whacky weed for sale in the Birthplace of the Navy.

An MRTA provision gave towns and villages until December 31, 2021 to opt out of either, or both, of the marijuana retail businesses. Municipalities that failed to opt out before the cutoff date are automatically considered as accepting the new retail cannabis markets. A municipality's allowing the marijuana businesses only permits them to operate but there is no guarantee that dispensaries or consumption lounges will open a shop in a given community.

Municipalities had to pass a local law before the end of the year, under MRTA, to prohibit cannabis businesses in their town or village. Whitehall has not passed such a law so are barred from preventing marijuana shops from opening in the town or village.

Interestingly enough, though, towns that opt out can change their mind any time they want and welcome the retail marijuana market with open arms.