Clay, N.Y. — Lighting up for the holidays is taking on a whole new meaning this week for T.J. Lewis.
Lewis on Friday expects to open his shop, TJ’s Cannabis Co. He’ll become just the second legal, state-licensed recreational marijuana retailer in Onondaga County.
“I got the golden ticket and I’m ready to go,” he said. His marijuana retail shop, or dispensary, opens at noon Friday in the Longbranch Park Plaza off Route 57 in Clay.
For Lewis, it’s been a long and difficult wait. He’s had a preliminary state license to sell marijuana since May. But, like hundreds of other licensees across the state, his dream has been held up by lawsuits and other delays in the state’s roll out of marijuana sales.
In June, Onondaga County’s first marijuana dispensary, Flynnstoned Cannabis, opened at 219 Walton St. in Syracuse’s Armory Square. It has been the only licensed shop in the county, or anywhere in Central New York, since then. There have been a couple of temporary, pop-up shops in the county, but they must close by Dec. 31.
Along with Lewis, 12 other preliminary licensees have been waiting for the lawsuits to be resolved, and then for the state Office of Cannabis Management to