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Orange native and former NBA player Al Harrington is now starring on a different court: he’s the owner of a recently opened cannabis dispensary in Hoboken.
Harrington played for the New York Knicks, Indiana Pacers, Atlanta Hawks, Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets, Orlando Magic and the Washington Wizards from 1998 to 2014.
He was among the nation’s top high school players while starring for St. Patrick High School in Elizabeth.
Harrington became a large voice in cannabis when he started advocating for the right of athletes to use it, and became one of the country’s few multistate cannabis operators of color with an enduring footprint.
He himself used it to manage pain from a series of painful surgeries, citing cannabis as a better alternative to opioids.
Harrington’s brand Viola was named in honor of his grandmother, who suffered from glaucoma and found relief with cannabis.
“All of our products are always grandma-approved,” Harrington said. “It’s very important because for me, we would never be willing to put anything out that I’m not willing to give to my grandmother.”
Selling grandma-approved weed means Harrington needed the permission of Hoboken. Each municipality in New Jersey can make its own cannabis approval process in addition to the separate state licensing process.
“This is a three-year process for us,” Harrington said of his new store opening. “It just took a bunch of time to cut through all the red tape. Hoboken in particular was very particular on who they wanted to work with and deal with.”
Harrington’s journey to opening survived multiple cannabis hearings that lasted from the evening into the morning.
Al Harrington of St. Patrick vs. Seton Hall Prep in the 1998 T of C final.NJ.com file photos
“It took us a while to answer those questions and give them a lot of examples where they got comfortable enough to push everything through,” Harrington said. “It’s definitely been a journey. Opening up in the state that I grew up in, I’m super excited.”
Harrington also plans on doing community service that speaks to his athletic bona fides.
“We plan on sponsoring the sporting events. We’re thinking about a battle of the brands — coat drives, we do food giveaways, we’ve even refurbished parks,” he said. “I’m trying to stick to the ethos and being a brand that has a connection to sports and creating jobs, trying to hire from within that community as much as we can.”
Harrington’s store will also sell merchandise and clothing.
“You just gotta make stuff people like,” he said. “We’ve been pretty successful because everything that we drop, we drop in limited quantities. All of our merch will be considered hopefully 20 years down the line exclusive value pieces.”
When the league allowed smoking the plant for NBA players, Harrington was excited. He also feels his dispensary delivers to a legacy of something he personally believed in, even when the league didn’t support it.
“I was also thinking about all the players in the past that have either lost their NBA opportunity because of a positive drug test or lost a lot of money because of all of the fines and suspension for games,” he said.
In the end, Harrington attributes his product to something that brings others together.
“It’s not a stuck-up thing,” he said. “It’s something that is very diverse, very inclusive and that’s what we want to do. Through all the products that we offer, we want one that fosters community and brings people together.”
Jelani Gibson may be reached at jgibson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X at @jelanigibson1 and on LinkedIn.