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TJ Lewis has leased a large retail space in Clay and fitted it with display cases and a secure supply room for an array of legal marijuana products. He has 25 people ready to join the payroll. In the past few months, he’s invested more than $500,000 in his project.
Lewis is one of more than a dozen individuals or groups in Central New York awarded a state license earlier this year to open a legal marijuana shop. His came through in May.
He got all the necessary permits from the town of Clay to open his dispensary, TJ’s Cannabis, in the Longbranch Park Plaza off Route 57. Town officials were “super helpful and supportive,” he said.
Once he gets final clearance from New York state, he said, the shop could be open for business within a week.
But Lewis, like hundreds of other would-be weed entrepreneurs across New York, can’t get that final state approval. And it’s not clear if or when that might happen.
“I have a lot invested in this,” he said, noting that he closed his existing and successful hydroponic business to clear for the way for the new one. “It’s a bad situation. They told me I have a license and now, nothing. It’s terrible.”
Of the 14 individuals or agencies in Central New York to receive a preliminary marijuana retail license, only one, Flynnstoned Cannabis Co., is open. It made its debut in Armory Square in June and now has a second outlet on Marshall Street. (See the status of all the local licensees below).
The story is the same across the state. Of the more than 450 preliminary retail licenses the state has issued so far, only 23 shops are open. All were awarded under what the state calls its Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) program, given to people who have been convicted of past marijuana offenses, or who have close relatives with such convictions.
The entrepreneurs awaiting final state approval to are are caught up in the latest in a series of missteps, legal issues and other problems that have plagued the state’s legal cannabis industry since adult use marijuana was legalized in April 2021.
The most recent roadblock is a lawsuit filed by a group of potential licensees, mostly service-disabled veterans, who contend the state’s CAURD licensing plan is illegal because it left them out despite their inclusion elsewhere in the state’s weed legalization laws.
A court injunction in that case has forced those holding preliminary licenses to try to figure out if they can get an exemption allowing them to open. So far, only five across the state have succeeded. There are also new deadlines for potential licensees to apply, or perhaps reapply.
Many experts and lawyers for the CAURD licensees unable to open are now advising them to reapply under the new general licensing process the state launched on Oct. 4. Those potential licenses are open to all applicants, not just those covered by CAURD.
But the process remains slow and confusing, many current preliminary license holders say. The outcome of the court case is uncertain and any new licenses may not be issued until December, or later.
In downtown Syracuse, Mike Golden and his partners have been working for more than two years to open their business, The Higher Company. Like Lewis, they were awarded a license in May.
They also have an identified location, 123 E. Willow St., and have received the necessary local approvals. But their project is also stalled.
Golden compares it to a football team having the ball on the opponent’s two-yard line.
“We’re there, we’re almost there, we can see the goal line,” said Golden, whose partners are Anthony Cage and Joseph Sweet. “We’re so close. We’ve got everything ready. Just need the state approval to go.”
Mike Golden, left, and Anthony Byron Cage are two of the partners in The Higher Company, which plans to open a legal marijuana dispensary in downtown Syracuse. (Don Cazentre | dcazentre@syracuse.com)
Status of CNY licensees
Here’s a look at the status of the 14 applicants in Central New York who have received licenses under the state’s CAURD program. Note: 12 are individuals or groups who qualified under the CAURD program for prior marijuana convictions, and two are nonprofits who serve communities affected by past drug convictions.
Advanced Institutional Support Services
Owner: This is an affiliate of Loretto, the nonprofit operator of Central New York’s largest nursing home and other senior health care services.
Proposed location: Unknown
Status: This agency received Central New York’s first marijuana retail license, in January. At the time, a spokesperson for Loretto said the agency hoped to find a third-party operator for the dispensary. Loretto hoped to use the license to provide a new source of revenue for the agency. The spokesperson told syracuse.com last week “there is no update at this time.”
Center for Community Alternatives
Owner: CCA is a nonprofit social services agency with operations in New York City, Rochester and Syracuse.
Proposed location: Unknown
Status: This agency also received its preliminary license in January. “Like dozens of other CAURD licenses across the state, CCA has faced headwinds in opening up our dispensary,” the agency’s executive director, David Condliffe told syracuse,com in an email. “From the multiple injunctions of OCM’s CAURD program to the need to raise significant capital, numerous obstacles to retail licensing as a whole have emerged. CCA has made significant progress and invested enormous resources. We continue to work towards opening and look forward to it soon, but we are not yet there.”
Joseph B. Simons
Owner: Simons is a criminal defense lawyer in Boston who grew up in Oneonta.
Proposed location: 4658 Onondaga Blvd., Onondaga
Status: Simons was the first individual (not agency) to receive a preliminary license when he was awarded one in April. He has since reapplied for a general license. “It’s been a long process with some forward movement,” Simons told syracuse.com in an email, adding that the process “has been painfully slow.”
“And currently, due to pending litigation, the state cannot approve locations to operate,” he said. “Therefore, I have been advised to apply for a full adult use license, and my hope is that I can still open the dispensary on Onondaga Boulevard. … I am still optimistic and looking forward to opening a dispensary in Syracuse soon.”
TJ’s Cannabis Corp.
Owner: Timothy E. “TJ” Lewis Jr.
Proposed location: 4095 Long Branch Road, Clay
Status: Preliminary state license awarded in May. All local permits are approved. Lewis is reapplying for a state license and said he could open within a week of final state approval. The hardest part, Lewis said, was his decision to close his existing business, TJ’s Hydroponic. He said he was forced to do that because he had trouble convincing other landlords in the area to allow him to operate a marijuana shop.
Loud Pack Exotics LLC
Owner: Jonathan M. Maxim
Proposed location: In the former Helping Hounds building off Kinne Road in DeWitt, in the outer parking area of the former ShoppingTown Mall.
Status: Preliminary state license awarded in May. Maxim told syracuse.com this week he expects to get a special use permit from the town of DeWitt soon and is hoping to hear from the state on the status of his license by mid-December. If he gets approval, he’s hoping to open before the end of the year.
Syracuse Halal Guys
Owners: Mohamed Soliman, Abdelrahman Amer, and Meru Patel
Proposed location: Unknown
Status: The owners, who operate the Syracuse Halal Guys Mediterranean restaurant on Westcott Street in Syracuse, could not be reached for more information.
Raven Dispensaries LLC
Owners: Benjamin B. Duerr, Joshua Jeanneret and Jason P. Jeanneret.
Proposed location: Unknown
Status: Preliminary state licnese awarded in May. The owners could not be reached for more information. Duerr has also been the owner of Hamin Media Company, according to the state.
Leafy Wonders
Owner: William E. Wilbur Jr.
Proposed location: In Fulton, Oswego County.
Status: Preliminary state license awarded in May. An associate of Wilbur’s, Tina Holava-Hughes, posted on Facebook on Oct. 23 that the city has approved a site. Holava-Hughes had previously sought a license under the name Mother’s Medicinals.
The Higher Company
Owners: Joseph J. Sweet, Michael Golden, and Anthony B. Cage
Proposed location: 123 Willow St., Syracuse
Status: Preliminary state license awarded in May. The partners have changed their plans over time and have now identified a location and have city approvals. Golden and Cage has previously expressed interest in a cannabis consumption lounge. Sweet has been the owner of Utica Hemp Co, a CBD business in New Hartford.
Dank Street LLC
Owner: Angela Paskins.
Proposed location: Unknown
Status: Preliminary state license awarded in May. Paskins, who has owned and glass art and home decor business called B Kind Distribution, could not be reached for more information.
Rodney Haymes
Proposed location: City of Syracuse
Status: Haymes received a preliminary license in June.
“I have submitted a location to OCM right before the current injunction started,” he told syracuse.com. “I am being told by some to re-apply for licensing through the (general) licensing process.” He said this week he has not yet done so.
Gotham Cannabis Corp.
Proposed location: Unknown
Status: The preliminary license was awarded in June. The owners could not be reached for further information.
David Carl Musumeci
Proposed location: Unknown
Status: The preliminary license was awarded in July. The owners could not be reached for further information.
Flynnstoned Cannabis Co.
Owner: Mike Flynn, also owner of The Roofing Guys.
Location(s): 218 Walton St. (dispensary) and 171 Marshall St. (growers showcase in partnership with J Michael’s shoe and clothing store), both in Syracuse.
Status: These are the only legally operating marijuana outlets in Central New York. The main shop won a preliminary license in May and opened in June.
Don Cazentre writes for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at (315) 470-2297 or dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.