BudDigest

Angelo Katkis standing next to the Flower Power Dispensers logo. Photos courtesy of Flower Power.

By Gus Saltonstall

The Upper West Side is getting its first legal cannabis shop three years after marijuana was legalized in New York.

Flower Power Dispensers will open during the last week of March or first week of April at 22 West 66th Street, between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue.

The marijuana shop will be run by Angelo Kitkas – a native of Astoria, Queens, a longtime cannabis connoisseur who works professionally as an electrician, and who spent seven months in prison for marijuana-related offenses in 2004.

Kitkas applied to the state for a conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary license in 2022. The license gave New Yorkers who personally were convicted under prior cannabis laws or had a loved-one that was and owned their own profitable businesses, the first chance at being able to sell marijuana legally.

“It feels incredible,” Kitkas told West Side Rag when asked about his journey to open a legal pot shop. “I’ve been talking about this since the 1990s, saying that ‘once it becomes legal, we’re going to open up a shop,’ and I’m happy to get the opportunity and

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Dank Poet Dispensary and Cannabis Clubhouse opened dispensaries in the Northwest New Jersey counties of Sussex County and Warren County, where few are located.

While most of the dispensaries are in more progressive Democratic towns, a few are in more libertarian Republican places.

For now, they will not have the distance concerns that have hit many of the pro-cannabis towns where dispensaries find properties that are too close for comfort.

Dank Poet Dispensary Opens in Warren County

Dank Poet Dispensary has opened in Washington Borough in Warren County. The term “Dank” is used to describe weed that smells very good.

They will be one of the few there since it is a politically conservative area.

The Dispensary Guy visited the Dank Poet Dispensary that opened. Dank Poet Founder and CEO told him they wanted to educate people and make them feel welcome. He was also happy to note they have the newer manufacturer Lily Extracts. They also have Brute’s Roots (which Heady NJ has an ad deal with full disclosure.) He said they plan to have more brands, too. Caruso also sought to emphasize their local roots.

“We celebrate the literary and visual arts, showcasing a variety of genres and

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Story by Curtis Walsh – Beaver County Radio. Published March 13, 2024 5:35 P.M.

(Center Township, PA) A medical marijuana dispensary is set to open at the location of the former King’s Restaurant in Center Township. The building has undergone a makeover and is set to start selling cannabis on Wednesday, March 13th according to sources.

Ascend Dispensary Outlet will be only the second medical marijuana dispensary to open in Beaver County since the state medicinal cannabis program started. The only other dispensary in the county is located in Aliquippa.

Under Pennsylvania law, medical marijuana use is legal for card carrying patients while recreational marijuana use is still illegal.

Chippewa Township is one of the only small municipalities in the state to have a decriminalization ordinance, in which they issue summary offense tickets for minor marijuana related offenses.

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The Upper West Side is getting its first legal adult-use recreational weed store. Flower Power Dispensers, which is set to open in a few weeks, will be located down the block from Central Park on W. 66th St. It will open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The Spirit got an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the the store’s roomy interior, which is still under construction. Designated “bud tenders” are being hired to serve customers, with local UWS residents reportedly being given preference. Angelo Kitkas, the store’s owner, said that he’s received over 1,000 applications for these positions so far.

In order to get Flower Power open on time, he joked, he’s doing a “no-days-off challenge” for 30 days straight. The space had been a fully kitted-out thrift store as recently as February, making Kitkas’s truncated schedule seem all the more demanding. He’s also an electrician by trade, however, meaning that “the construction side is something we know. I’m confident that we’ll be open by our target date.”

Kitkas, who has a CAURD license–or Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary License–for Flower Power,

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Modesto cannabis dispensary Peoples Remedy faces $232,000 in fees from Stanislaus County. 

Despite the major debt owed to the county, dispensary owner Mark Ponticelli may have a path forward with the local government to avoid having the development agreement canceled. 

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The big picture: Last week the Stanislaus County Planning Commission recommended to the Board of Supervisors to consider new terms to Ponticelli’s fee debt. 

That recommendation comes ahead of a possible November ballot measure to implement an eight percent tax on gross cannabis sales in Stanislaus County.  The tax would replace the fees that Peoples Remedy owes to the county, axing the current quarterly fee system.  The Board of Supervisors will decide on Tuesday whether or not to place the tax measure on the November ballot. 

Driving the news: Last week the Planning Commission considered canceling Peoples Remedy development agreement, but expressed concern that illegal cannabis sellers could see a boost without a legal market in place locally. 

Ponticelli told the Planning Commission that he has paid nearly $2.3 million in fees since 2020.  The original fee was set at $600,000 or eight percent of gross sales, but sales have been declining. In early 2022, the county

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The building that is now home to Remedy’s RX Pharmacy in Buckhorn has been many things over the years.

It has been transitioning for many years, waiting for this most needed business. This business has been in Buckhorn for 30 years, operated by owner/manager Amish Pathak. When it opened in 1992, the medical clinic was half of the building. The medical clinic was being constructed so it shared the facilities with the pharmacy.

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Table of Contents

In November 2012, Washington voters approved the production, processing, and retail sales of recreational cannabis within Washington state under what is known as Initiative 502 (“I-502”). Washington state then provided a regulatory framework for how the legalization of recreational cannabis production, processing, and retail sales would be regulated under what would become the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (“LCB”).

Washington State’s unfair taxation of medical cannabis

The LCB is tasked with reviewing, approving, regulating, and monitoring cannabis licenses within Washington state. The LCB is also tasked with administering and collecting excise taxes concerning the retail sale of cannabis concentrates, useable cannabis, and cannabis-infused products within the state. Cannabis sales in Washington state are currently taxed at a rate of 37%, in addition to the general state and local sales and use taxes. Qualifying patients and providers are exempt from the general and local sales and use taxes on the sale of cannabis products compliant with the Department of Health (“DOH”) but have continued to be subject to the 37% excise tax, until now.

HB 1453 seeks to alleviate the unfair tax burden on medical cannabis patients and providers

On March 6, 2024,

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VERNON, CT — Acreage Holdings, Inc., the parent company p The Botanist Vernon, said Monday its dispensary on Route 83 in Vernon has expanded its services to include adult-use sales.

The Botanist Vernon is now operating as a hybrid dispensary, providing a “full suite” of products to both medical patients and adult-use customers.

“We are thrilled to open our doors to adult-use consumers at the first cannabis storefront in Vernon,” said Ben Tinsley, Acreage’s vice president of New England operations. “Since opening earlier this year to medical patients, our Vernon dispensary has performed well with positive feedback on the selection and quality of products as well as the overall customer service experience. With expanded services now in Vernon, our Connecticut retail footprint is completely hybrid, and we look forward to continuing to connect with new customers across the state.”

The Botanist Vernon opened in late January at 234 Talcottville Road.

It has maintained a Sunday through Monday schedule from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The dispensary’s inventory has included products both in-store and online, including flower, pre-rolls, vapes, edibles, and accessories. Customers and patients have the option to either shop in-store or pre-order products online for pick up directly at the dispensary.

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For more

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MedMen, the multistate cannabis operator (MSO) that once held the largest cannabis franchise footprint in the U.S., has shut down all but two of its California-based cannabis shops, MJBizDaily reports. The closures follow a years-long downward trend for the Los Angeles-based company, once considered a multi-billion dollar brand.

MedMen’s last remaining California dispensaries are located in San Diego and near the Los Angeles International Airport. The company has also seen its stock price plummet more than 90% in three years and laid off more than 100 workers since late January, the report said.

MedMen employees from around California confirmed the brand’s widespread closures, including the company’s last San Francisco store in the Cow Hollow neighborhood — that shop, which was its only remaining Bay Area location, had been open for just two years, SFist reported.

Meanwhile, the company announced in December it was selling off its assets in Arizona and Nevada a little over a year after selling its Florida-based assets. The company also attempted to sell its New York assets to fellow MSO Ascend Wellness last year but the deal ultimately fell through due to Ascend’s concerns about MedMen’s allegedly “deteriorating” assets.

The MedMen website is currently unavailable, displaying

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People who consume cannabis are just as likely to exercise as people who abstain from cannabis use, according to a study published in the April 2024 edition of Preventive Medicine Reports.

The study was written by researchers from the University of Texas and Ohio University who surveyed 2,591 U.S. adults who either consume cannabis or use e-cigarettes. Researchers asked the respondents about their typical exercise routines including frequency and types of activities, finding that “participants’ marijuana and e-cigarette use predicted their walking for exercise.”

“…Marijuana use is not significantly related to engagement in a particular type of physical activity. Though we find some evidence that marijuana users walk for exercise more than even non-users, this result represents a trend more than a significant association.” — Excerpt of the study, via Preventative Medicine Reports

The study authors also said the findings “challenge the stereotype that marijuana and e-cigarette users are less active than non-users, and future research should examine the potential mechanisms of these findings.”

Not only are cannabis consumers just as likely to exercise as non-consumers, but a study published in January also found that cannabis use makes exercise more enjoyable.

Another recent study suggested that regular cannabis users may

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