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STATEN ISLAND BUZZKILL: NYC’S ONLY BOROUGH WITHOUT LEGAL WEED SHOP

By Matthew Sedacca

Published Dec. 30, 2023, 10:00 a.m. ET
Staten Island is the only borough now without a legal recreational dispensary,
leaving cannabis sale licensees like Leonard Manning outraged. Helayne Seidman

There is no leaf on The Rock. 

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More than a year after New York issued its first licenses for legal pot peddlers
to set up shop, Staten Island is the only borough in NYC without a recreational
dispensary, killing the buzz for would-be entrepreneurs and users alike.

“I’m disappointed,” said David Sutherland, who was awarded a license in July but
still hasn’t found a storefront where he can legally sell sticky icky. “We are
part of the five boroughs. We should have the same opportunities.”

A major hurdle for many budding cannabis sellers has been the legal red tape
that has delayed openings for all licensed pot shops across the state for
months.

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But in the city’s most conservative borough, landlords also have been reluctant
to rent to dispensaries, industry experts and licensees said.

“If you took a poll, I’d bet most Staten Islanders do not want pot shops, legal
or not,” US Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) told The Post.

“I think this is an area where we’d be happy to remain the forgotten borough and
continue to urge the city to crack down on illegal operations.”

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4
Some experts suggested Staten Island landlords may be wary to rent to legal
dispensaries due to continued competition from illegal pot shops. Helayne
Seidman

Michael Heitmann, a business lawyer with expertise in the cannabis industry,
suggested landlords on the island likely see renting to a legal dispensary as a
bummer partly because it’s unclear whether the law-abiding tenants can compete
with the estimated 1,500-plus illicit pot shops still plaguing city.  

“You have New York allowing all of these illegal pot shops, and then you have a
legal business coming in and wants to be your tenant,” he said. “I’d be advising
my client, ‘I don’t know if they can make it.’”

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Cannabis sale licensee Leonard Manning, who hopes to finally open his
dispensary, The Weed Shoppe, in March, said he reached out to landlords and
management companies for roughly 100 properties, including at major strip malls,
before one finally gave him and his partner a lease for a Tottenville
storefront.

4
Manning hopes to open his dispensary, The Weed Shoppe, in March in Tottenville.
Helayne Seidman

“We were out there all day,” Manning, 73, said, adding that many commercial
property owners across the borough have been reluctant to join in the green rush
over the “the element” they fear shops like his will attract to their
properties. 

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“They think it’ll affect their customers and make people not want to come there,
not want the kids around,” he said. 

Lawsuits challenging the Hochul administration’s problem-plagued cannabis
program also wound up freezing the state’s ability to issue licenses or allowing
new dispensaries to begin selling.

4
Landlords also have been reluctant to rent to dispensaries in the city’s most
conservative borough, industry experts and licensees said. AP

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So far, just 15 Big Apple pot operations are currently up and running.

In August, four disabled army vets filed a discrimination lawsuit alleging the
state illegally favored applicants convicted on marijuana charges when awarding
licenses to sell legal weed over others.

Albany Supreme Court Justice Kevin Bryant, agreeing with the outraged vets,
issued an injunction barring state regulators from awarding any new licenses or
allowing pot shops to open.

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4
Manning said he reached out to landlords about 100-plus properties before one
finally gave him a lease for his pot shop. Helayne Seidman

The state’s Cannabis Control Board in November settled both the vets’ lawsuit
and a similar case brought in March, but some say suits have had lasting effects
on their ability to get their businesses off the ground.

“Before August 7… we were ready to go, we had had the money lined up,” said one
Staten Island cannabis licensee. “As soon as we got sued, people were like, ‘I
don’t really know about this program anymore. I’m afraid to put my 500 grand
into this program that may be gonna get sued again.'”

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What do you think? Post a comment.

A spokesman for the Office of Cannabis Management said that the borough’s first
dispensary is expected to open in January.


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Filed under cannabis ,  marijuana ,  marijuana legalization ,  staten island , 
12/30/23
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