April 20 marked the first “4/20” since legal recreational cannabis dispensaries hit the “Big Apple.” But roughly five months since the first Manhattan location opened, licensed shops are still devoid north of 42nd Street.
Vladimir Bautista, co-founder of Latino-owned cannabis lifestyle brand Happy Munkey, says the lack of licensed recreational dispensaries uptown means Harlemites are stuck choosing between a long commute or just buying from an unlicensed seller.
“The reality is that if you are [far] away and you go on the site and there’s this…new cannabis space but [if] you [need] to drive [far], most people are not going to do that,” he said.
His company held a symposium with Community Board 9 on Columbia University’s campus to promote cannabis literacy this week. But Bautista says he’s still waiting for his Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensaries (CAURD) license to be approved. He says businesses like his will be key to rooting out unlicensed retailers.
“I believe that what happens is the market corrects itself because then the community bands together around [people they’ve known for] the years [that] now they have a license,” said Bautista. “And that helps shake out the opportunists and helps the industry find out because at the end of the day, regulators can only do so much. The authorities can only do so much. The community also needs to have people that they respect running these organizations.”
This past February, Mayor Eric Adams and Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg...
Global Contract Manufacturing Medical & OEM and its parent company Avista Capital Holdings LP convinced a federal district court to dismiss a False Claims Act suit alleging they inadequately i...