The purpose has been expressed by OCM a few times

NY state punished weed at higher rate than any place in the world.

This process is open to people from anywhere as long as they were prosecuted by NY state. A New Yorker with a fed charge or a Ny resident with an nj charge can’t apply.

A man from atlanta who go popped in NY can apply. As well as any family members I believe.

That is a huge pool of people. Michigan and cali are way better shots at getting licensed if that was the real goal.

If you qualify for that basic requirement there’s still huge barriers of running a stable business for years. It’s a specific window this person knew they didn’t qualify for.