First retail cannabis licenses in N.Y. reflect aim for diverse marketplace.

At least on paper, the early actions of New York state regulators in establishing a recreational marijuana marketplace are checking multiple boxes in progressive policy: Counteracting the ills of the war on drugs, boosting people of color in obtaining dispensary licenses, even ensuring less environmentally noxious cultivation. What remains much less clear is whether the state's regulations governing adult use of cannabis will be strong enough to deter such harms as greater youth access, and to what degree wider availability of the drug will fuel intensified demand for treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]