What is she smoking?

Outrage mounted Monday over Gov. Hochul’s decision to give convicted drug felons preference over disabled military vets in the awarding of licenses to run marijuana dispensaries, first reported by The Post on Sunday.

Advocates accused state regulators of discrimination by prioritizing ex-cons in handing out the pot permissions, with some suggesting it violates the very law legalizing the sale of cannabis in New York.

The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Action Act of 2021 designated five “social and economic equity” classes to get 50% of employment opportunities in the budding sector — covering those convicted of marijuana-related crimes and “service-disabled veterans,” as well as women and minority-owned businesses and “distressed farmers.”

But so far, the first 165 cannabis dispensary licenses have been set aside nearly exclusively for applicants found guilty of a pot-related charge or related to someone swept up before the drug’s legalization.

“It’s absolutely disgusting. It’s mind-boggling,” said Councilman Robert Holden, chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee. “The state rewards people who broke the law. What about veterans who served our country and those who don’t break the law?”

“Veterans should never be taking a back seat to convicted felons,” agreed state Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt (R-Lockport), an Army vet who served in Afghanistan. “Our Veterans have fought to uphold our liberties and freedoms we have today. Albany is repaying that debt by giving preferential treatment to those who have broken the law over disabled veterans. Regardless of your feelings on recreational cannabis, we can all agree that New York has their priorities wrong.”

The revelations follow the slow and rocky rollout of the Empire State’s recreational weed program, which has seen the setting up of 1,500 shops illegally selling pot in the Big Apple while only 7 state-licensed dispensaries have opened for business.

“The idea of giving ex-cons a license to sell pot, along with a free dispensary courtesy of the taxpayers, shows their deranged priorities and their continued failure to roll out a legal market in NY,” said Sen. George Borrello (R-Jamestown).

“The rollout of the licenses was so mismanaged that it has created a cottage industry of illegal pot shops all over New York City that now compete with those legally operating,” Holden wrote in a letter to Hochul after reading The Post’s “Cons Before Vets” report.

“I strongly urge you to take immediate action to right this wrong and ensure the disabled veterans’ community receives the priority they deserve,” he added. “They have sacrificed so much for our country, and we must ensure they are not left behind.”

Critics pointed out that some of the felons who were awarded licenses were major drug dealers, not just selling a few joints.

“In 2009, I was sent to jail as the ringleader of a multi-million dollar drug operation,” Coss Marte, a drug felon awarded one of the Conditional Adult Use Dispensary cannabis licenses, told Forbes.com in April of last year.

NPR reported the following month that in addition to marijuana, Marte peddled powder and crack cocaine on street corners, eventually operating “an extensive cocaine delivery network” before he was busted and sentenced to seven years in prison.

The state Office of Cannabis Management insisted Monday it was not ignoring disabled vets who want to sell legal weed.

“The Office of Cannabis Management has conducted significant outreach to veterans and veterans groups, including meeting with the Cannabis Association of New York’s Veterans Committee, with Black Veterans for Social Justice, hosting a roundtable at the Veterans in Economic Transition Conference, hosting listening sessions across New York and numerous one-on-one conversations with veterans and advocates,” said spokesman Aaron Ghitelman.

“We will continue to engage with this incredibly talented and entrepreneurial community as we move forward – their voices will continue to be heard and reflected in all of our work.”