The name of New York State’s newest cannabis dispensary may inspire thoughts of mindful journeys guided by the state’s sun-grown cannabis products.
It’s also the latest example of how New York State is setting itself apart from other states by seeding its legal cannabis market with licenses granted to nonprofit groups and social equity entrepreneurs.
On Monday, Union Square Travel Agency: A Cannabis Store celebrated the grand opening and soft launch of its pop-up location at 62 East 13th Street in New York City. It is the third licensed marijuana seller in the Big Apple and the fourth in New York State.
Terrence Coffie made the first ceremonial purchase, buying a pot of cannabis flower grown in New York. Now an adjunct professor at New York University, Coffie previously served a five-year prison sentence for drug possession with intent to sell.
When Coffie got out of prison decades ago, a charity called the Doe Fund offered him a job and a place to live.
The Doe Fund was one of the first nonprofits to be licensed as New York State rolls out its Seeding Opportunity Initiative to award the state’s first cannabis business licenses to for-profit groups. nonprofits and entrepreneurs affected by the war on drugs. The Doe Fund, which provides job placement, education and housing services to the homeless and formerly incarcerated, has partnered with Harbor Community, a private company, to operate its clinic in New York.
Union Square travel agency: A cannabis store opened on 13th Street, one block south of Union Square in Manhattan, just weeks after the opening of the state’s first dispensary, Housing Works Cannabis Co., a few blocks away.
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Officials are celebrating the opening of Union Square Travel Agency: a cannabis store in New York City on Monday.
Steven Gelsi/Crumpe
Arana Hankin-Biggers, president of Harbor Community, said more than half of the profits from travel agency Union Square: A Cannabis Store retail dispensary will go to the Doe Fund, which will use the proceeds for health programs. professional training.
Hankin-Biggers noted that while progress has been made, 40,000 people remain in prison in the United States for cannabis-related crimes, and only a small percentage of legal dispensaries are currently owned by people of color.
Some of the brands on the shelves at the new dispensary include Ayrloom from Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards, Florist Farms and FlowerHouse New York. The point-of-sale technology at the dispensary came from Dutchie.
New York State has been unique in the way it helps nonprofits and individuals impacted by the war on drugs, including those who may have worked in the illicit cannabis trade before, to enter the New York State industry with local businesses.
Other states have instead granted social equity licenses alongside licenses for large multi-state operators, which then quickly crowd out family businesses.
Damian Fagon, director of equity at the Office of Cannabis Management, said other states such as Maryland, Virginia and Minnesota have expressed interest in New York’s social equity program.
“We’re changing the conversation about what the impact of cannabis can look like,” Fagon said.
Tremaine Wright, chair of the New York State Cannabis Control Board, said the plan was to “create opportunity for people who have been left behind for too long.”
Paul Yao, CEO of Harbor Community, the company that runs the Union Square Travel Agency dispensary, said the store received 500 applications for 50 positions.
The store opens with 10 vendors and nearly 200 types of products on the shelves, including drinks, gummies, flowers and pre-rolled cigarettes.
Although competition with other dispensaries could become an issue, Yao said cannabis could also begin to reach a wider audience and become more mainstream, helping businesses grow.
Taxes from the sale of cannabis in New York State will go to the Community Grants Reinvestment Fund of the New York State Cannabis Advisory Board.
State Establishes Grant Program for Qualified Community Nonprofits
organizations and local government entities approved to reinvest in communities that have been disproportionately impacted by past federal and state drug policies.
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