FILE - Medical marijuana plants are shown during a media tour of the Curaleaf medical cannabis cultivation and processing facility, Aug. 22, 2019, in Ravena, N.Y. While New York works on launching a legal market for recreational marijuana, some entrepreneurs have jumped into a legal gray area by saying they're not selling pot but giving it away while people buy something else. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink, File)

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York’s first 100 to 200 retail cannabis licenses will be solely for people with marijuana-related convictions or their immediate family, state officials said Wednesday, in an effort to redress the inequities of a system that has locked up people of color for marijuana offenses at disproportionate rates.

Some licenses will go to nonprofits or businesses who have a leader linked to a marijuana conviction, and priority also will be given to individuals with “a parent, legal guardian, child, spouse or dependent” convicted of a marijuana-related offense, said state Office of Cannabis Management spokesperson Freeman Klopott.

Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul is set to announce the planned regulations for “social equity” applicants on Thursday, and the regulations will get the green light from the state cannabis control board later that day, Klopott said. Convictions must have occurred before March 31, 2021, which is when the state’s legalization bill was signed into law under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The New York Times, which first reported on the plans, said applicants would be able to open the first dispensaries in the state by the end of 2022 and in early 2023, according to Chris Alexander, the executive director of the Office of Cannabis Management. The regulations were posted on the state’s website Wednesday.

It’s unclear how many retail licenses will be issued in New York, the second-most populous state after California to legalize possession and use of marijuana for adults over the age of 21.

Social equity emerged as a key theme in marijuana legalization in recent years. New York’s policy is meant as a measure of justice for people who were prosecuted because of a now-legal drug, and as a way to help new entrepreneurs compete against big pot companies.

A major industry-led group welcomed it nonetheless.

“We want to see an industry that’s big enough and broad enough for everyone to be involved,” said Steve Hawkins, CEO of the U.S. Cannabis Council. “This effort is one that we certainly embrace and see as very meaningful, in terms of giving those individuals impacted by the war on drugs an opportunity to get started in what’s going to be a very significant market in New York state.”

New York’s regulations also will lay out rules for other retail license applicants, including nonprofits who serve communities with high rates of policing for marijuana offenses and businesses with at least one individual linked to a marijuana conviction.

Individual applicants must prove their presence in New York and that they have at least a 10% ownership interest in a business that ran a net profit for two years.

Hochul’s administration has vowed to create “the most diverse and inclusive” marijuana industry in the nation, and provide opportunities for people who bore the brunt of the decades-long U.S. war on drugs.

The state is launching a $200 million fund to give both grants and loans to eligible businesses, which would include those owned by women or minorities, struggling farmers, disabled veterans and people from communities that endured heavy pot policing. New York aims to provide 50% of licenses to such applicants.

The state is still working on the specifics, including who would provide private dollars and if the money would help cover the costs of seeking a license itself.

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Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed from New York.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press.