QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, September 1, 2022

QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, September 1, 2022 Page 2

Queens preps for weed dispensaries

As apps for recreational retail open, some are more ready than others

by Deirdre Bardolf

Associate Editor

Last Thursday, the Office of Cannabis Management announced that New York State had begun accepting applications for the first recreational cannabis dispensary licenses.

The first legal adult-use retail dispensaries will be run by those impacted by the prohibition of cannabis. Qualifying business applicants must have a conviction for a marijuanarelated offense or have a parent, legal guardian, child, spouse or dependent with one in New York.

One Ozone Park man has already submitted one application and is working on a second, with hopes of eventually opening a dispensary in Queens.

“My business partner and I are both justice-involved and we both meet the criteria,” said Jeremy Rivera, a 38-year-old from Ozone Park.

“Kush Culture is me 51 percent, him 49 and then Gourmet Buds is him 51 percent me 49,” he told the Chronicle this week.

Rivera spent eight years in prison for nonviolent crimes, two of which were

drug-related. Now, he owns a construction-consulting company where he teaches OSHA and city buildings regulations and audits job sites for construction-safety compliance. “I am and always have been ambitious. Even when I was in the streets and I was dealing drugs, I was very ambitious.” His business experience helps him check off the box from the state that requires applicants have experience owning and operating a “qualifying” business that has been profitable for at least two years. His business partner owns a deli in Lindenhurst, LI. Although Rivera is a Queens guy through and through, he is not sure he will be able to open the dispensary here. Jeremy Rivera COURTESY PHOTO “I’m not getting really good responses from the communities in Queens,” he said. “I’d love to open a dispensary here, but I don’t know. It seems like I’m getting a lot of conservative views on this.” He specifically wanted to open up a shop in Ozone Park but was told by community leaders that it might not be “the right place.”

On their applications, Rivera and his business partner ranked Long Island as their No. 1 preference on the first one they submitted but they plan to rank Queens first on the second.

According to the Office of Cannabis Management, a maximum of 16 Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary licenses will be awarded.

Rivera says it is in this first round of licenses granted that the money is.

“Whoever is in for the first couple of months of the open dispensaries, they’re going to make a lot of money,” he said, citing New Jersey’s first 12 dispensaries bringing in $24 million in the first month of operation.

CAURD applicants will also receive support from the Social Equity Cannabis Investment Fund, which was included in April’s enacted state budget, according to the OCM.

But if Rivera has to open up on Long Island first, he said, he will — and he has gotten a much warmer response from the Town of Babylon than he has here.

Though recreational marijuana use was legalized in New York in 2021, many are still uncertain about such nonmedical dispensaries opening up.

“There is a great deal of thought that needs to go into the issue of placement of legal marijuana dispensaries,” Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Ozone Park) said in a statement to the Chronicle.

Ariola said she is not in favor of having dispensaries in her district but, since it is now law, it will come down to the details.

“We definitely cannot have them placed near schools or other locations frequented by minors,” she said. “The siting of any business like this is going to be very important, and I think it’s crucial that we get community involvement and support before dispensaries start popping up in our neighborhoods.”

State Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard

New York is now accepting applications for recreational marijuana dispensary licenses.

FILE PHOTO

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