‘The nightmare is almost over’

Southampton’s local weed laws just went up in smoke as state cannabis officials blasted the town’s overly stringent rules as illegal and designed to intentionally block legal dispensaries from ever opening.

The unanimous decision by the state’s Cannabis Control Board on Monday effectively torched Southampton’s local permitting scheme — a system that state-licensed cannabis business owners Marquis Hayes and Kim Stetz, of Brown Budda dispensary, sued the town over.

They had accused town officials of deliberately weaponizing zoning laws and permit requirements to stall their state-approved business and keep legal cannabis operations out of the tony Long Island coastal town.

“The board’s action delivers a resounding rebuke to local officials who once claimed, ‘we live here, the state does not live here,” Christian Killoran, the attorney for Brown Budda, said in a statement. 

“The state has now made its position unmistakably clear — Southampton is in New York. You live here. We live here. The decision affirms that state law – not local politics – governs cannabis regulation and that municipalities cannot rewrite the rules to fit their own agendas.” 

The ruling found Southampton’s local code to be “unreasonably impracticable” under state law and formally voided multiple sections of its zoning code, including the town’s requirement for special-use permits and distance buffers.

State regulators also struck down the town’s attempts to regulate weed deliveries within its borders — calling any previous effort to do so “completely outside of municipal authority.” 

The decision is a crippling setback for Southampton, which has spent the past three years tightening its cannabis laws and dragging out approvals despite never opting out of the state’s 2021 legalization framework, which only required a vote of its local government.

For the Brown Budda dispensary, the decision also marks a long-awaited breakthrough after years of frustrating and expensive court battles with the town — while waiting to finally open its doors. 

“I believed I was about to seize the American Dream. Instead, the Town of Southampton turned it into a nightmare,” said Hayes, Brown Budda’s founder.

The Southampton-based dispensary — one of the first to be licensed in the state and the first approved on Long Island in 2022 — has lost millions in potential revenue and expired cannabis product while sinking hundreds of thousands more into rent, fees and legal costs.

“Brown Budda New York has been ready to open its doors since day one,” Hayes added. “The nightmare is almost over.” 

The ruling could also have sweeping implications beyond just the Hamptons, setting a statewide precedent that towns can’t use local zoning laws to get in the way of state-licensed businesses after missing the opt-out deadline. 

It also reinforces Albany’s stance that marijuana regulation rests entirely with the state — and affirms local municipalities can’t micromanage who can sell or deliver cannabis within its borders.

Southampton Town Attorney James Burke did not respond to a request for comment.