14 businesses have Marijuana retail licenses in Central New York but only one is open
TJ Lewis has leased a large retail space in Clay and fitted it with display cases and a secure supply room for an array of legal marijuana products.
He has 25 people ready to join the payroll. In the past few months, he’s invested more than $500,000 in his project.
Lewis is one of more than a dozen individuals or groups in Central New York awarded a state license earlier this year to open a legal marijuana shop. His came through in May.
He got all the necessary permits from the town of Clay to open his dispensary, TJ’s Cannabis, in the Longbranch Park Plaza off Route 57. Town officials were “super helpful and supportive,” he said.
Once he gets final clearance from New York state, he said, the shop could be open for business within a week.
But Lewis, like hundreds of other would-be weed entrepreneurs across New York, can’t get that final state approval. And it’s not clear if or when that might happen.
“I have a lot invested in this,” he said, noting that he closed his existing and successful hydroponic business to clear for the way for the new one. “It’s a bad situation. They told me I have a license and now, nothing. It’s terrible.”
Of the 14 individuals or agencies in Central New York to receive a preliminary marijuana retail license, only one, Flynnstoned Cannabis Co., is open. It made its debut in Armory Square in June and now has a second outlet on Marshall Street. (See the status of all the local licensees below).
The story is the same across the state. Of the more than 450 preliminary retail licenses the state has issued so far, only 23 shops are open. All were awarded under what the state calls its Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) program, given to people who have been convicted of past marijuana offenses, or who have close relatives with such convictions.
The entrepreneurs awaiting final state approval are caught up in the latest in a series of missteps, legal issues and other problems that have plagued the state’s legal cannabis industry since adult use marijuana was legalized in April 2021.
The most recent roadblock is a lawsuit filed by a group of potential licensees, mostly service-disabled veterans, who contend the state’s CAURD licensing plan is illegal because it left them out despite their inclusion elsewhere in the state’s weed legalization laws.
A court injunction in that case has forced those holding preliminary licenses to try to figure out if they can get an exemption allowing them to open. So far, only five across the state have succeeded. There are also new deadlines for potential licensees to apply, or perhaps reapply.
Many experts and lawyers for the CAURD licensees unable to open are now advising them to reapply under the new general licensing process the state launched on Oct. 4. Those potential licenses are open to all applicants, not just those covered by CAURD.
But the process remains slow and confusing, many current preliminary license holders say. The outcome of the court case is uncertain and any new licenses may not be issued until December, or later.
In downtown Syracuse, Mike Golden and his partners have been working for more than two years to open their business, The Higher Company. Like Lewis, they were awarded a license in May.
They also have an identified location, 123 E. Willow St., and have received the necessary local approvals. But their project is also stalled.
Golden compares it to a football team having the ball on the opponent’s two-yard line.
“We’re there, we’re almost there, we can see the goal line,” said Golden, whose partners are Anthony Cage and Joseph Sweet. “We’re so close. We’ve got everything ready. Just need the state approval to go.”
