LOCKPORT — The city is now the site of a legal marijuana dispensary. It’s called Peace, Love, & Bud, is owned by 27-year-old Alyssa Renko, and had its soft opening on Sunday with little fanfare, but passed all the checkpoints required by the New York Office of Cannabis Management, as well as the banks, and is now the “dream” is a reality.
Renko said that as a teenager — a smoker, she admits — she thought it’d be “so cool” to own a dispensary. At the time it seemed far off for New York State to legalize the business, but she kept the dream, even planning on moving to Colorado.
“It was just a dream and I am now 27. They legalized it, I submitted my application and I won the lottery,” she said.
Renko applied for the first non-conditional adult-use cannabis licenses which opened for submissions on Oct. 4, 2023. In February, the New York State Cannabis Control Board voted to approve those licenses, as announced in a press release from Gov. Kathy Hochul, putting Peace, Love, & Bud and many more on the docket for opening in the coming months.
From Renko’s perspective, things didn’t really start to happen until April