New York’s first legal recreational marijuana shop opens
- The New York dispensary paves the way for a string of store openings in the coming months
- Marijuana has been fully legalised by 21 US states, but remains illegal under federal law
The first licensed marijuana shop in New York opened on Thursday, more than a year after the state legalised the drug and during delays in setting up the legal market to benefit people previously arrested for marijuana crimes.
The dispensary was opened in New York City’s East Village by Housing Works, a non-profit organisation that fights homelessness and Aids. The non-profit was among the first 36 groups or individuals that the state awarded with a marijuana retail licence last month.
“We’re prioritising repairing harm, harm that’s been done even by the state’s own policies,” Chris Alexander, the inaugural executive director of the New York State Office of Cannabis Management, told a crowded news conference at the store. “It’s no accident that disproportionately people who are incarcerated for possession and sale of drugs are people who are black, Latino or Latina.”
In legalising marijuana in March 2021, New York lawmakers required that it could only be sold by licensed retailers to adults over 21 years old, and that the first licences would be awarded to entrepreneurs with prior marijuana-related arrests or convictions, giving them a toehold ahead of corporate retailers in the lucrative market.
Retailers can also only sell marijuana that licensed New York producers grew and processed.
New York initially promised it would find ready-to-open storefronts and business loans for the first licensees, and that non-profit groups that work with previously incarcerated people, such as Housing Works, may qualify for some licences. But the process has taken longer than expected.