Between business and social justice, 100% legal cannabis arrives in New York

Naiomy Guerrero often saw her brother arrested by police in the Bronx. Jeremy Rivera, another New Yorker, doesn’t want to keep going to jail for drug trafficking. Today, both want to open a legal cannabis trade, a promising market but full of difficulties.

This opportunity “is a really strong moment for my family, especially knowing where we’re from and what we go through because of the city’s discriminatory policies,” Naiomy, a 31-year-old art history student, told AFP. in the cultural field and whose parents come from the Dominican Republic.

He, along with his family, was one of the first 28 applicants who received a license from the state of New York on November 21 to open an official cannabis shop. More than a year after the legalization of adult consumption, it’s a new milestone in this region of 20 million people and stretching as far north as the Canadian border.

In the city of New York, the smell of weed has become as characteristic for locals and tourists as yellow cabs or skyscrapers. The city council expects $1.3 trillion in sales by 2023, as well as the creation of between 19,000 and 24,000 jobs over three years.

– “Leave all this” –

Since his release from prison in 2018, Jeremy Rivera has vowed never to enter again. With his arms fully tattooed, this 36-year-old family man wants to use his business acumen and cannabis knowledge to set up shop on Long Island.

This entrepreneur, who grew up in the midst of crime in Queens, expects “99.998%” to be part of the next round of licensing.

I want to show people that I did it: I was a member of a gang for 20 years, I sold drugs and I decided to stop it,” he explains.

In this sense, his conviction in 2016 “for a non-violent crime related to cannabis” does not constitute an impediment.

In New York state, having been convicted of a cannabis-related crime – including its sale – and having a business are two of the conditions for being able to obtain one of the first 150 licenses before the full opening of the market.

– Repair –

The impetus for this program responds to this Democratic state’s stance to redress what is now considered an unjust and disproportionate impact on the African American and Hispanic communities due to the previous prohibition of “marijuana.”

Prohibition has deprived people of opportunities, impoverished communities and torn families apart,” Tremaine Wright, chairman of the New York State Cannabis Control Council (CMO), told AFP.

In 2018, an official report estimated 20-year marijuana possession arrests at 800,000, while arrests in 2017 were mostly Afro-descendant (48%) or Hispanic (38%).

In the 2000s, “you couldn’t be on the street without being taken away by the police (…), it was a state of constant surveillance and harassment,” recalls Naiomy Guerrero.

– fragile –

The program is ambitious and its implementation projects several challenges.

“We’re Only Getting Started” Well, “now you need funding and training,” says Desmon Lewis, co-founder of the Bronx Community Foundation, which helps applicants and introduced them to a display store last week.

In recent days, information about the fragility of the $ 200 million public-private fund that the state has promised to offer soft loans and the start-up of turnkey stores has had the effect of a cold shower.

For some it is very destabilizing. They had these sites and this help. I’m in a bit of quicksand,” says Eli Northrup of the Bronx Defenders.

– Competence –

This takes place in a context of strong competition as the market is already covered by unofficial sales and generates the interest of large groups.

Since consumption has been legal, vendors have operated outdoors on the streets, in parks or through social networks, as well as in “smoke shops” offering marijuana cigarettes or THC candies, taking advantage of the lack of controls. Obviously untaxed products, unlike the legal market.

However, Jeremy Rivera sees opportunity.

There will also be people who have never felt comfortable in the illegal market and who now want to buy from a trusted and authorized dealer”, with the guarantee of the origin of the product, which must have been grown within the borders of the state of New York, he explained.

It is the beginning of a market that has been open for 100 years,” he adds, pulling on a large joint.

***mjpr***