24 Of 99 New Conditional Retail Cannabis Licenses Allocated To LI

LONG ISLAND, NY — New York's cannabis control board announced on Monday that they had approved 99 new conditional adult use retail dispensary licenses.

A total of 24 of those of those recreational marijuana shops will be sited across Long Island, New York's Office of Cannabis Management told Patch.

The 99 new CAURD licenses, according to OCM, are based on regional preferences, not regions where the individuals live.

According to OCM, to be eligible as a qualifying business for CAURD, individuals had to have a cannabis-related offense that occurred prior to the passage of the Marijuana Regulation and Tax Act on March 31, 2021, or had a parent, guardian, child, spouse, or dependent with a pre-MRTA cannabis offense in the State of New York — or, have experience owning and operating a qualifying business in New York State.

There are currently seven adult-use dispensaries that have opened in New York State, with three in Manhattan, one in Queens, one in Schenectady, one in Binghamton and one in Ithaca, OCM said.

Here is the list of new licenses granted on Long Island, according to OCM:

- Happy Days Dispensary Inc.: Owned by Paul Lepore and Philip Jordan. For nine years, Lepore, a justice involved applicant, owned and operated Phresh Products, a wholesaling and retailing health and wellness home delivery service based out of Staten Island, OCM said.

- Where’s my lighter? LLC: Owned by Ashieka Moore. For three years, Ashieka Moore, a justice involved applicant, owned and operated Where’s my lighter?, a smoke and lighter accessories online retail shop.

- Heritage Gold & Silver: Owned by Michael Reda and Keith Titmus. For five years, Reda, a justice involved applicant, owned and operated Heritage Gold & Silver, a gold and silver jewelry collector and seller.

- East Coast Psychedelics Inc.: Owned by George W. Moss. For 28 years, George W. Moss, owned and operated East Coast Psychedelics Inc. a retail store in Mount Sinai.

- Alexander Kelch LLC: Owned by Alexander Kelch. For seven years, Kelch, a justice involved applicant, owned and operated Alexander Kelch LLC, an operations and management business in Massapequa.

- Gourmet Budz LLC: Owned by Alessandro Cottone and Jeremy Rivera. For six years, Cottone, a justice involved applicant, owned and operated Joe's Meat Inc. a retail establishment providing the community with a premise that offers butcher, deli, hot catering, off premise BBQ service and CBD sales in Lindenhurst.

- Legendary Bliss LLC: Owned by Alexander Ravelo. For eight years, Ravelo, a justice involved applicant owned and operated CEAMS NY CORP a heating and air conditioning installation and repair business.

- Brain Bloom LLC: Owned by Joseph Micciulli. For two years Joseph Micciulli, a justice involved applicant, owned & operated Brain Bloom LLC a consulting services business in Freeport.

- The Island's Cannabis Dispensary, LLC: Owned by Hugosbely Rivas Jr, Marlon Mendez, Andrea Mendez and Liliana J Mendez. For three years, Rivas Jr. a justice involved applicant, owned and operated My Island Corp. a construction company.

- Zaquia Chaplin: Owned by Zaquia Chaplin. For five years, Chaplin, a justice involved applicant owned and operated Trusting Hands HS LLC, a home health aide business.

- AQR Development Funding LLC: Owned by David M. Tubens. For 11 years, Tubens, a justice involved applicant, owned and operated Huntington Regional Chiropractic in Huntington.

- Adam S. Drake: Owned by Adam S. Drake. For 11 years, Drake, a justice involved applicant, owned and operated ASD AND Family, Inc., an insurance agency.

- High Path Wellness LLC: Owned by Patricia A Dima. For five years, Dima, a justice involved applicant, owned and operated Next Phase LLC a smoke shop located in Holbrook.

- Sherwood R. Adams: Owned by Sherwood R. Adams. For 16 years, Adams, a justice involved applicant, owned and operated Ageless Chimney Inc. a chimney maintenance and repair business.

- Mottz Only Authentic New York Style, LLC: Owned by Sean E. Lustberg. For three years, Lustberg, a justice applicant owned and operated Upwise Capital, LLC a secure financing firm for cannabis businesses.

- Jonathan Gibbs (ZOOTIES): Owned by Paul E. Gibbs Jr and Jonathan D. Gibbs. For eight years, Jonathan D. Gibbs, a justice involved applicant, owned and operated Wolf Breed Clothing - Urban Streetwear Clothing Brand.

- The Gold Source Inc.: Owned by Stanley Isaac and LaKisha Isaac. For nine years, Isaac, justice involved applicant, owned and operated The Gold Source Inc., a full service Jewelry Store in Deer Park.

- Neo Wellness LLC: Owned by Derby NY LLC, AASM Ventures LLC, and AA Signature Holdings LLC. For 22 years Anand, a justice involved applicant, owned and operated RPA Trading Inc a consumer serving phone store in Rockaway Park.

- All Safe Electric & Security, LLC: Owned by Ben Alpert. For 10 years, Alpert, a justice involved applicant, owned and operated the electrical service business.

- AFLI, LLC: Owned by Sam Gormezano and Don R. Albi. For eight years, Sam Gormezano, a justice involved applicant, owned and operated Strategy's Management, Inc. a medical consulting business.

- Kintech Heating and Cooling Inc.: Owned by David Kinney. For five years David Kinney, a justice involved applicant, owned and operated Kintech Heating And Cooling- HVAC services.

- Holy Buds Inc.: Owned by Matthew Hoey. Hoey is a justice-involved applicant who owned and operated Don Pope LLC, an entertainment company that organized concerts and events, including permitting, staffing and event management for four years.

- WAO Industries, LLC: Owned by Warren Ovalle. Ovalle, a justice-involved applicant, owns WAO Industries, a consulting service for retail and professional service providers, offering market insight and strategic growth plans for each client.

- CJ Fuel Oil Inc.: Owned by Cornelius Jones. Jones, a justice-involved entrepreneur, has owned and operated CJ Fuel Oil, a fuel oil delivery service, for 16 years.

Last week, a federal court lifted an injunction that put the brakes on the issuance of licenses for cannabis sales in several reginos; one injunction remains in the Finger Lakes, according to a post by Spectrum Local News. The injunction was issued in November for several regions after one company challenged the point that licenses be issued to those impacted by drug laws, Spectrum said.

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul issued a statement on the injunction being lifted: "New York's brand-new cannabis industry is making significant progress to promote social equity and right the wrongs of the past, creating the fairest and safest market in the nation," she said. "I am pleased that a federal appellate court has limited an injunction in favor of the State of New York in the matter of Variscite NY One, Inc. v. Office of Cannabis Management, et al. This decision will allow New York's social equity entrepreneurs to open safe, regulated cannabis dispensaries in Central New York, Western New York, the Mid-Hudson Region and Brooklyn."

She added that for the first time, New Yorkers in nearly every region will have access to safer, high-quality, adult-use cannabis products.

According to a prior release by the state's control board, the conditional adult-use retail dispensary, or CAUR, license is a central pillar of the New York State Seeding Opportunity Initiative. Through the Initiative, New York’s first legal adult-use retail dispensaries will be operated by those most impacted by the enforcement of the prohibition of cannabis or nonprofit organizations whose services include support for the formerly incarcerated. These dispensaries will be making the first legal adult-use sales with cannabis products grown by New York farmers.

New York legalized recreational marijuana in March 2021.

“The primary goal of the conditional adult-use retail dispensary (CAURD) license is to create opportunities for New Yorkers harmed most by the prohibition of cannabis," Aaron Ghitelman of the OCM told Patch. "Part of that is granting up to 150 CAURD licenses to individuals who themselves, or their close family members, have had past eligible cannabis related offenses and have ownership stakes in profitable businesses. Individuals who receive CAURD licenses will have access to the $200 million social equity cannabis fund and the turnkey storefronts currently being secured and built out by Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, or DASNY. This first-in-the-nation fund will give these entrepreneurs the capital necessary to compete in New York’s adult-use cannabis market."

The cannabis management office plans to grant up to 25 licenses to non-profit organizations as a way of creating additional workforce development opportunities for justice-involved New Yorkers, Ghitelman said.

"Unlike individuals who receive CAURD licenses, these nonprofit applicants will not have access to the fund and will be required to provide their own compliant storefronts in order to receive a CAURD license," he said. Those dispensaries will help create further job opportunities for justice-involved individuals while their operations will support the important work the non profit organizations are already doing across New York State, he added.

Individuals with prior cannabis-related offenses were tapped to make the first adult-use cannabis sales with products grown by New York farmers, Gov. Kathy Hochul said in March, 2022

Hochul unveiled the first-in-the-nation "Seeding Opportunity Initiative", a farm-to-store plan that she said will make sales in New York possible before the end of 2022, jumpstart New York's cannabis industry, guarantee support for future equity applicants, and secure an early investment into communities most impacted by the disproportionate enforcement of cannabis prohibition.

"New York State is making history, launching a first-of-its-kind approach to the cannabis industry that takes a major step forward in righting the wrongs of the past," Hochul said.

The regulations advanced by the cannabis control board will prioritize local farmers and entrepreneurs, creating jobs and opportunity for "communities that have been left out and left behind," she said. "I'm proud New York will be a national model for the safe, equitable and inclusive industry we are now building."