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GREAT BARRINGTON — Theory Wellness, the first cannabis dispensary to open in the Berkshires, became an employee-owned business on Wednesday.
Theory Wellness executives told employees on Wednesday that the company would be adopting an employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP, from which they will receive shares over time. In 2022, The Eagle estimated that Theory Wellness’ Great Barrington dispensary alone accounts for a quarter of the estimated $200 million cannabis business in Berkshire County.
HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) – Terrabis Grayville has announced a sock and food drive to benefit Wabash Area Development, Inc.
According to a release, customers can donate three pairs of socks or three nonperishable and unexpired food items to receive $10 in loyalty points to spend on their purchase. The discount is limited to one per customer.
Disclaimer to be added to Terrabis billboards after complaints
“This initiative allows us to give back to the community and help those in need during the holiday season while also rewarding our customers for their generosity,” said Terrabis CEO Dan Ambrosino.
Officials say the collected items will go directly to WADI’s various community programs, providing support during the colder months. The sock and food drive began on December 18 and runs until January 17.
The Hashery Dispensary had a soft opening Friday and a Grand Opening Saturday in Hackensack, while Baked by the River Dispensary had a Grand Opening in Lambertville.
There are now about 67 adult use New Jersey Cannabis dispensaries open. After a delay of years, the pace has increased to about two or three openings every 11 days.
Hashery Dispensary Opens
Hashery Dispensary had a soft opening Friday in Hackensack in Bergen County to prepare for a Grand Opening the following day.
They are among the first three New Jersey cannabis dispensaries with a drive-thru to open, along with the Camden Apothecary. The nearby Multi-State Operator (MSO) cannabis corporation Apothecarium in Lodi also has one. It’s near the Satin Dolls strip club, which was the Bada Bing in the hit show The Sopranos.
“They’re going to be turning around a battleship, and we’ll be turning on a dime,” Lead budtender Patrick Hogan declared regarding MSOs.
The Hashery Dispensary is among the dispensaries selling the new cannabis cartridge from independent maker Lily Extracts based in North Jersey. They are eager to sell similar products.
“We can’t even get the things we want to represent us,” Hashery Vice President Len Coleman III lamented.
Community Board 1’s Executive Committee finalized its guidelines for how they will evaluate cannabis dispensary licenses, and while I am sure these rules will evolve, it’s a good place to start.
So far the board’s committees have approved three licenses: 16 Murray, 35 Wall and 378 Broadway (the last will be voted on tonight). But already there are shenanigans: the applicant who was approved at 16 Murray has switched her application to 30 Warren, and there are now new applicants at 16 who say they have a signed lease there. More on that later.
I will note that all this stuff is in flux and will have to evolve. (The 500-foot rule was invented by a colleague of mine on CB4 decades ago, in the early ’90s — Tim Gay — to prevent bars from clustering and creating a bar district. The guy was a genius among community activists. My point here being that these things were not always on the books, but they evolved out of community engagement.)
The state cannabis law is very easy to read in the original here. And it states that a cannabis retail licensee cannot have a storefront within
500 feet of a school
Jonathan Maxim, the owner of Loudpack Exotics in Dewitt, says his business is on track after a legal standoff tossed him and many other prospective dispensaries into limbo.
“Now I’m at the finish line,” Maxim said. “I’m just waiting for OCM for my final approval, and then the final walk-through, and then I’ll be set to open.”
The New York State Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) awarded Maxim a provisional dispensary license in May, under the state’s Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) program. The intent of the program was to provide “justice-involved individuals” who were impacted by marijuana law a first-mover advantage in the state’s developing recreational industry, but legal troubles surrounding the licenses put most applications on ice.
New York’s Supreme Court issued an injunction against the CAURD program in August, after a group of service-disabled veterans filed a lawsuit claiming the state’s marijuana regulators illegally excluded them from the initial application pool. Their arguments echoed a March lawsuit by a coalition that included several of the state’s medical marijuana companies.
The freeze had a significant impact on New York’s cannabis industry. Marijuana farms outnumbered legal retailers ten-to-one as many dispensaries waited for final licensure to begin conducting retail sales.
“It’s a bummer just
MOUNT HOLLY, NJ — A new cannabis retailer opened in Mount Holly, giving the township its second dispensary. Voltaire Dispensary celebrated its grand opening Saturday at 47 Mill St.
The women-and-minority-owned business says it’s paving the way for “community-centric” cannabis through focusing on authentic engagement, providing “meticulously curated” products and supporting local charities.
“We believe that success is not just measured in profits,” said CEO Leo Ashe, “but in the positive impact we can make on the community and the world. Voltaire is committed to creating opportunities for underrepresented groups and fostering an inclusive environment within the cannabis space.”
Voltaire will donate at least 2 percent of profits to the “Voltaire Institute,” which will fight for causes related to climate change, social justice and inequality, according to the business’s website.
The dispensary’s opening gives cannabis users multiple options for legal purchases in Mount Holly. Phula Dispensary opened in October on 60-62 High St. — a minute’s drive from Voltaire.
While cultivators await state approval to open cannabis dispensaries in the Hudson Valley, a holiday pop-up shop will sell flower, pre-rolls, gummies and vapes from New York producers to fill the gap.
Cannabis Growers Holiday Showcase will be held at the former Stone Krafters Building at 2223 Route 32 in Kingston.
The showcase runs Friday through Sunday, and again on Friday, Dec. 29 through Sunday, Dec. 31. It will be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Every cannabis product at the showcase is grown by cannabis farmers licensed to grow in New York. Some of the producers attending include Flowerhouse, American Oil Seed, Genna & Co., Clear Natural and Honey & Gold.
Neighbors surrounding 161 Hudson — from upstairs and from neighboring buildings — are organizing against a cannabis dispensary proposed for one of the storefronts there, just south of Laight (the former pediatric office). They have started a petition, and though the application was rejected by Community Board 1’s Executive Committee last Tuesday, neighbors plan to be at the full board meeting tonight as well.
There’s a lot to discuss here, and I will have two more posts (at least) on that meeting, but this one is a good case study for future dispensary applications so it was worth the deeper dive. The neighbors don’t want any part of this and they have dozens of reasons, but they are using the rule of proximity to a school as their primary argument, and that is worth clarifying.
The state cannabis law is very easy to read in the original here. “No cannabis retail licensee shall locate a storefront within 500 feet of a school grounds as such term is defined in the education law or within 200 feet of a house of worship.”
And then this from the New York State Department of Education on what constitutes a school: “’School’ means
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
