State weed-shop regulators are trying to take residents higher — recently approving more than double the number of current retail licenses during the program’s rocky rollout.

The New York Cannabis Control Board on Monday approved 99 more applications to open up shop, boosting the number of allowed licensed dispensaries from 66 to 165 in the state.

Still, there are only seven licensed marijuana stores actually up and running, at least partly because of ongoing legal battles.

At the same time, an estimated 1,500 illicit shops are flourishing in the Big Apple alone by illegally peddling cannabis while not paying taxes, much to the chagrin of New York City Mayor Eric Adams and local law-enforcement officials.

As part of ongoing state budget talks, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Albany lawmakers are eying a crackdown on black-market weed sellers by dramatically increasing fines and making it easier to shut down rogue operators.  

The program’s rollout has been sidetracked by lawsuits that have blocked the opening of pot shops in major urban areas such as Brooklyn and the Buffalo and Syracuse regions upstate, regulators acknowledge.

Under the law, weed regulators have given preference to entrepreneurs who have prior marijuana convictions in New York.

Other merchants seeking cannabis licenses who don’t fall into that category sued the state, claiming the restrictions on licensing are unconstitutional.

An appeals court lifted an injunction on licenses in certain parts of the state last week.

The applications OK’d on Monday include 21 new licenses for pot dealers in Manhattan, 17 in Queens, seven in The Bronx, three in Brooklyn and 23 for Long Island.

The first marijuana dispensary opened in Jamaica, Queens last week. It also was the state’s first site owned and run by a woman.

Some of the soon-to-be-opened legal dispensaries will be named: “Flower Power” and “Weeds R Us” in Manhattan; “Organized Relief Leaf” in The Bronx, and “Smelly Nelly” and “Just a Little Higher” in Queens.

Nelson Cabrera, who owns and operates MYLITE LLC, a firm offering consulting and training services to cannabis operators in California and across the country, will run Smelly Nelly.

To date, regulators have granted at least one cannabis dispensary license in each region of the Empire State, with the exception of the Finger Lakes, which remains blocked by a court injunction.

Not-for-profit groups with a history of serving ex-convicts are also eligible for cannabis licenses.

Housing Works, for example, is operating a cannabis dispensary in Greenwich Village.

“These new licenses will allow entrepreneurs to fairly participate in the legal market while promoting innovation and creative diversity throughout New York’s ever-growing cannabis supply chain, and we’re thankful for the ongoing support of Governor Hochul and the Legislature for helping us reach this day,” said Tremaine Wright, chairwoman of the Cannabis Control Board, in a statement. 

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the legislature approved the law legalizing recreational marijuana in New York on March 31, 2021.