When New York State awarded the first of 10 licenses to grow and sell medical marijuana in 2015, the winning bidders rejoiced at the opportunity to control a lucrative, untapped market — but they knew that greater spoils lay ahead.

If New York were to legalize recreational cannabis, the medical marijuana companies would be well positioned to dominate the market, much as they have in states like Illinois and Arizona.

But New York took a different approach, promising to put those who had been harmed by the war on drugs first in line for retail licenses, with the application process opening Thursday.

That approach has left the 10 medical marijuana licensees and those companies with an interest in their business — nearly all of which are large, multistate operators — scrambling. Some have donated to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s campaign, and nearly all have hired lobbyists, spending more than $2 million this year in the hopes that they can make the best of what some have projected to be a $6 billion market.

The focus of their campaign is a fee, required by the state’s cannabis law, that operators must pay in order to sell marijuana outside the medical program. Early discussions have touched on a potential fee of $20 million per operator; unsurprisingly, the medical marijuana industry wants to lower that figure. [Read More @ The NY Times]