He once was an illegal weed seller in Syracuse. Now he’s finally getting his chance to go legit

Rodney Haymes used to sell marijuana on the streets. Lots of it. It got him into trouble and landed him in jail.

Now Haymes is preparing to sell weed again. This time, it’s a straight-up legal business.

He plans to open a state-licensed cannabis dispensary called the Dank Bank by the Budd Boyz this fall in DeWitt.

It will be located in the former Chase Bank branch at 6004 Court Street Road. The property still has its original vault, teller windows and drive-thru lanes, all of which Haymes will use.

“Cannabis has been a big part of my life, for good and bad,” Haymes said. “I put the bad behind me. Now it’s time to do some good.”

Haymes’ path to legal status began as soon as New York legalized marijuana in April 2021. But it’s taken him a while to get there.

He was one of the initial group of entrepreneurs who received preliminary license approval from the state to open a retail shop, or dispensary. Those licenses were part of the Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) program.

The CAURD licenses were only awarded to people who had been convicted of past marijuana offenses, or who had close relatives with such convictions. It was part of the state’s attempt to include “social equity” in establishing a legal cannabis industry.

Haymes makes no secret about his past.

“I started selling cannabis in the 6th grade at the Fiesta Market on Geddes Street in the city of Syracuse in the mid ’90s,” he wrote in a note to syracuse.com. “I would sit out there for many hours telling people, ‘I got trees for sale.’ In my neighborhood, selling weed was glorified and a way of survival for many.

“I remember my dad asking me when I was young, ‘What do you wanna be when you get bigger?’ I replied ‘a drug dealer.’”

Of the 14 Central New York recipients of CAURD licenses, Haymes appears to be one of the last to actually open a shop. He encountered some difficulty finding a suitable location before settling on the old bank in DeWitt.

In the meantime, Haymes has also launched a separate career in marketing, with Results Marketing LLC on James Street in Syracuse.

And he started up a nonprofit, called The Living Legacy Project By The Budd Boyz, which he said will help “people in the communities who were mostly impacted by the old cannabis laws because I am one of those people.”

Haymes plans to donate proceeds from his cannabis shop to the nonprofit.

“I want to spread positive messaging thru art in those neighborhoods because a lot of people from those neighborhoods are hopeless as they don’t see many positive things happening regularly. To me, that is priceless and is really my passion.”

Haymes said his experience with cannabis has had both its negative and positive effects. He was charged four times, convicted twice and spent time in jail when his kids were young. He said his convictions made it hard to get jobs, and even sometimes makes clients wary of working with his business.

But he believes it’s had its benefits, too.

‘“Being a cannabis consumer has helped me most of my life,” he said. “It’s helped with anxiety and depression and a lot with the pain caused by Chronic Lyme (Disease), which I got six years ago or so now. They want to give me medication that helps with nerve pain due to neuropathy but I self medicate with cannabis. So grateful for this option.”

The DeWitt location will sell a wide variety of cannabis products, but Haymes said he’s going to limit the brand options. He’s still working to line up products.

“I don’t want to overwhelm people,” he said. “The goal is to have good products that we feel good about.”

The bank serves as a perfect set-up, he said. Products will be sold through the teller windows, and the vault will offer secure storage for after hours. And he will use the drive-thru lanes, including the old vacuum tube to get the products to the customer.

And he’s purchased a separate building adjacent to the bank that could become a “cannabis consumption lounge” when those become legal in New York.

Haymes is also working on another location to open soon in Virginia.